Sacrifices
by Melpomene melancholica
Summary: There has been a coup in Makai and Reikai is being investigated for anomalies. Worse, Koenma is not cooperating with his father's plansand is stirring up trouble. What's a ferry girl to do?
1. Prologe& Ch1: Call of Hymen

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.

Before reading this…

This thing took 114 days to write. Please be kind to animals. Easy on my, OK? I'm just a beginner. To Master Seiyo, ho-hum. I told you not to expect too much from this crappy junk. Remember when I left this thing at the Physics room? I'm kinda regretting I got my retreat notebook back. Oh well, here goes nothing.

Warning: May contain violent scenes and/or unacceptable language. Parental guidance is recommended. If you don't want your parents involved here, though, use your discretion accordingly. And don't worry, there's no yaoi, yuri, or lemon scenes here.

You should also ask your local psychiatrist if this thing is safe for you to read. It's pretty whacked out. Then again, anime fans usually are insane. GOOD LUCK!

**_Sacrifices_**

_By Melpomene _

"BUSINESS IS DOING awful, isn't it?"

The waiter shook himself out of his reverie.

"Pardon?" he said to his lone companion, the cashier.

"I said, the business is lagging lately," answered the somber looking girl. "I bet we'll need to get a new job soon. And fast, too. My brother won't be able to send me money for the tuition fee this month and I have to pay for the next term before I get to take the exam." A shadow of worry crossed her face.

The young man's face grew grim as well. "Yeah," he answered. "I, too, need to earn some bucks for my mother's medicine. But look at this! The whole place is empty."

"No." The girl pointed to a table in the dark end of the cubbyhole that was a coffee shop. "The blue-haired lady has been there for nearly an hour. Maybe you should ask her if she wants anything else. That's her third cup of cappuccino. Offer her some pastries."

"Nah. She said no. I wouldn't want to be too nosy now, would I?"

"She seemed bothered, though." The working student sighed. "I guess we're not the only ones with problems, ne?"

TWO PINK EYES, wider than usual, peered worriedly at her watch for the umpteenth time. _For heaven's sake, where are you, Koenma? _she thought to herself.

Koenma? Ought not she say Koenma-sama? He's still the Prince of Reikai even if she is his best friend. All right, she's more like his mentor on recreation. Yes, she did have a hard time trying to convince the workaholic prince to take a break from his slave-driving job once in a while. All her work paid off since he now consents to a movie or something once or twice a month. Sometimes, he's the one who arranges the appointment. Lately, however, there's seems to be a major problem that's making him more busy than usual.

"But it's still isn't an excuse to be late," she said aloud.

Presently, the chimes at the entrance tinkled, signaling its opening and, perhaps, the arrival of her master. She peeked behind the smoked glass that served as a divider between the smoking and non-smoking area. She saw a tall, distinguished looking fellow give his long coat to the doorkeeper, thus revealing the casual slacks and the loose fitting sweater he is wearing.

The girl sighed in relief as the newcomer approached towards her table, walking in an infuriatingly too slow a pace. She just discovered she was short a couple of bucks. Trust Koenma to pick a classy expensive place for a rendezvous. _He should know he's not paying me enough to be able to afford this kind of restaurant, _she thought.

"Well, good afternoon, Koenma-sama," she said in a biting voice. "You have a lot of explaining to do. First of all, you're late. Second, you could have at least picked a more…um, economical place and-"

He smiled at her lightly. "I'm sorry, Botan-chan," he answered. "Don't worry. I'll foot the bill. I just thought we'd appear less conspicuous here since nobody comes around much."

"Well, you're still late. I was beginning to think you decided to stick to your paperwork instead of meeting me."

Koenma smirked. "You owe me two hours overtime. I'll leave you all the stuff that piled up during my absence."

"What was it you want to talk about? You sounded urgent. And yet you're late!" Botan really couldn't help rubbing it in. She was worried after all.

"I came as quickly as I can, Botan."

"So I noticed." She rubbed the prince's forehead to even out the thick foundation cream that hid the Jr. birthmark.

"Well, there's some trouble in Crete. Some archeologists accidentally opened a doorway to Makai and, well, hell broke out. Our people just finished patching things up, but I couldn't leave before then, you know."

"Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help."

"It's out of your jurisdiction, silly." Koenma laughed. "Crete is in the Mediterranean Sea, in Europe."

"I knew that."

"Yeah, right." He motioned to the waiter for the bill.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"What, you just want to sit around here all day?"

"Well, no."

"Then come on. We can still catch the next movie. What's on?"

"How about X-Men?"

"What's that?"

"A movie about mutants. You know, based on that popular comic book series."

"Mutants?" Koenma groaned. "Can we please lay off the supernatural for a while? That's why we're here in Ningenkai, remember?"

"It's a science fiction. It's not like that other movie we saw, you know the horror one."

"That movie proves how narrow-minded humans are. Everything was inaccurate, to put it mildly. All the same, I had trouble paying attention since you keep screaming and strangling me to death."

"Inaccurate, huh? I thought it was realistic and I bet you did, too. You were shaking as if it was the middle of winter."

"Well, it was freezing then."

"Yeah, right. All the same, one of the imps resembles Hiei very much. And with the same foul temper, too."

"Oh, he's here right now investigating on something."

Botan paled. "Uh… H-h-he is?"

"Just kidding."

"Baka!"

**First Chapter**

_The Call of Hymen_

KOENMA PAUSED TO admire his work. Well, there wasn't really anything particularly admirable about it but the fact that the output piles are much larger than the input piles already made him happy. Uh-huh, the sooner he gets his work done, the sooner he'll be able to drag Botan for a quick stroll around the city. That is if none of the oni would add another batch of stuff to do, which is really too much to hope for.

"Okay," he muttered. "Only 3,563 pages more to go."

He started stamping again. Paper after paper sailed to and from his table, magically piling by themselves. After a while, the door of his office flung open and a blue oni entered.

Koenma groaned. He looked up, expecting to see George Satome carrying a new mountain of paper. To his surprise, the oni was empty-handed.

"Excuse me, Koenma-sama," he said to the toddler, who continued to stamp away. "Enma-sama called for you."

Koenma almost spat out his Fuumakan. "What?" he demanded. "The Crete tear opened again? The Makai rebellion succeeded? An army is invading?"

George peered at him in a puzzled manner. "Well, none of those. At least, he didn't say anything of those sort."

The prince sighed in relief. However, a new question popped in his head. Why did his father send for him? Enma Daiou is not the type who goes for a casual father-and-son chat. _Maybe I made some sort of mistake_, thought Koenma. _Oh, well. Botan and the ice cream parlor will just have to wait._

"I'll go to him now," he murmured. "By the way, George. Have you seen Botan? She still owes me a pile of paper work."

"I don't believe I have," George answered distractedly. "I think Enma-sama sent her out for an errand or something."

"Is he that short of workers that he uses mine?" Koenma muttered. "I guess he wants me to do something as well."

Koenma magically morphed into his adult form. It gives him more balance and coordination than a three-year old body, or so he says. He could also make better time with those long lanky legs than with those short stumps.

After walking through what seemed like a labyrinth of corridors, he reached the imperial throne room that housed the ruler of Reikai. The crier announced him accordingly and gave him permission to enter.

He was surprised when he didn't get a glimpse of the giant looming of figure of his father. A closer look revealed the throne was empty. Koenma strained his eyes searching for Enma.

"I'm here, my son," said a deep sagacious voice.

"Koenma looked around until he finally saw the speaker. The latter had the likeness of Enma Daiou but…

The prince's jaw fell. "Father, you're-" he sputtered.

"I knew you'd be surprised, Koenma," the latter continued. "But I thought assuming a more "normal" size would make it easier for me to relate to my son."

Koenma recovered his business like poise with a shake of his head.

"Well, I am more comfortable in speaking with a person of the same eye level as mine," he said. "What did you call me for?"

"I thought we could have a little talk."

"And?"

The king raised his eyebrows. "Just because I am Enma Daiou doesn't mean I'm denied those little father-and-son chats Ningens enjoy."

"Ok." Koenma was obviously skeptical.

"Come on, son. Take a sit and do lighten up, will you?" He motioned to the coffee table where the coffee things and pastries were arranged. "And you should pay more attention to your social life now while you still have time. Once you inherit the throne, you'd be too busy to enjoy it."

_I _am_ too busy for one_, Koenma thought as he sat down opposite his father. Aloud, however, he said, "It has improved quite a lot, father."

"Good, good. Perhaps, your involvement with Urameshi Yusuke did do you some good."

Koenma did a double take before he grasped the full meaning of what his father had just said. Enma Daiou admitting to the good influence of Yusuke and the others after that scandal during the Sensui case was practically unthinkable. And him asking about social life? Koenma began to suspect there's more to their meeting than a casual talk.

"I guess so," he finally answered.

They remained silent for a while. Koenma nibbled on a cookie. Enma sipped his coffee. After a while, the latter spoke:

"Ah," he said, almost to himself. "You've really grown up, Koenma. I didn't quite notice."

"Like, I have been for a number of millennia," Koenma retorted mildly.

"I know, son. Age doesn't really matter for us. You only stayed in your toddler form for efficiency, as you say, but your physical body has matured long before. I guess, I, too, am misled by your image. I didn't really realize that you have already matured mentally and spiritually as well. Perhaps, your long training did pay off and you're now capable of ruling this kingdom."

Koenma frowned but nervousness fluttered in his gut. "Father, I think you just need a little vacation. You're working too hard lately and-"

Enma looked amused. "No, no. That was not what I meant. You were afraid I was going to hand you down the reins right then and there, weren't you? Well, not yet, child, so rest assured. What I mean is that you should prepare to train another one to do your tasks once you take over mine."

"What exactly do you mean, sir?" Koenma lifted his cup to his lips to hide their steady quivering.

"What I'm saying is that, you should already be getting an heir by now."

PSSSSHHHHHHHHS!

Koenma coughed out the coffee that entered the wrong passage in his throat. Enma wiped the rest of it from his face with as much dignity as he could muster.

"I knew you wouldn't take it lightly, Koenma," he said. "But I didn't think your reaction would be that violent."

"Gomen nasai, father, truly." Koenma managed to say. "It really is so sudden and all."

"I really think you need a wife to take care of you, son. Someone who could control you so that you won't overexert yourself."

"Um, what sort of woman did you have in mind, Father?"

"Well, you know you can't just marry anybody. The girl will have to be of noble birth."

At this, Koenma's expression became clouded. "You know, Father, I know all my ancestors, including you, had fixed marriages. Why don't you just tell me to whom you had me betrothed with without my knowledge?"

"Yoshio Masago."

"Masago? Masago's a snooty snob!"

"Masago is a gentle refined young lady with an impressive lineage and pure noble blood. She'll be perfect for you."

"No way!"

"You don't even know her, son. How can you decide so rashly?"

"That's the point! I don't even know her. How would I-"

On and on their argument raged. Enma tried different tactics to convince Koenma. He threatened, humored, cajoled, pleaded, bargained, tricked, blackmailed, all to no avail. Koenma adamantly refused.

"I WILL NOT MARRY A COMPLETE STRANGER!" he flatly declared.

Finally, Enma-sama relented. "Alright, Koenma," he said. "You won't have to marry Masago this instant. I'd give you more time. But promise me you'd get to know Masago better and try to reconsider."

Koenma sighed. "Yes, father, I will."

LESS THAN AN hour later, Koenma sat mooning over his formerly foot high, 100-flavored sundae.

"Alright, what's your problem this time?"

Koenma glowered at the blue-haired girl sitting across him.

"Koenma-sama," she spoke again. "How would I help you if all you do is just glare at me?"

"Even if you know, I doubt you'd be able to do anything," he muttered.

"Well, for what did you drag me here for?" Botan looked at her watch uneasily. "You know, I timed out two hours early today."

"Why did my father call for you this morning?"

"He asked me to deliver something for the Castle Styx. You know, the Yoshio home. Why do you ask?"

Koenma moaned. "See? Why didn't he at least ask me before if I had anybody in particular in _my_ mind? It turns out he has fixed this thing decades ago. No fair!"

"Wow! Like I can relate to you." Botan rolled her eyes. "Would you mind terribly filling me up with details before you rant yourself to death?"

Koenma told her everything that transpired between him and his father that afternoon. They seem to have traded places for all the while Botan was quiet while he raved about his misfortunes. Usually, it's her mouth that is going a mile a minute.

Finally, the prince finished his tale. He stuffed a pretzel in his mouth to signify he was through. He glared back at Botan, waiting for her reaction.

Botan didn't quite know what to think of it. She felt that as a friend, she should sympathize with her master. However, she realized that as his servant, she should let him see the light and urge him to do his duty. Still, she couldn't help feeling a tiny quirk of jealousy. She didn't understand the strong protest gnawing inside her, urging her to tell Koenma to defy the supreme ruler of Reikai.

"Well?" pressed Koenma.

"I…" stuttered Botan. "I'm speechless. I-I don't know what to say."

"Humph. That's something new. Usually you _don't_ run out of things to say."

"It's so, um… sudden, Koenma-sama. Enma-sama doesn't even treat you like an adult and now he's telling you to get married?"

"If he thinks I'm really half mature as he says I am, then maybe he could have at least let me pick the woman I want to marry."

"But, Koenma-sama, it's been a tradition going back generations. Your forefathers all had fixed marriages. Besides, why don't you want to marry Masago? Like, every male in this world would like to be in your shoes. I mean, look at her. She's tall, beautiful, sexy, fashionable, rich, intelligent. Need I go on?" Botan sighed almost enviously. _Everything I'm not_, she added mentally. "I think you look good together."

"Botan, marriage is not some pageant. It's a life long commitment. And if I am to have that commitment, it has to be with a person I can relate to. Like, Masago and I have practically next to nothing in common."

"How would you know?"

"Well, she's a typical aristocrat, Botan-chan. She'll be too busy worrying about her image, her poise, everything. If I was to pick my fiancée, I'd choose someone I can talk to, someone like you, perhaps."

Botan didn't immediately realize what he had said but when she did, she stood up in shock. "Koenma-sama, are you pulling my leg?"

"Calm down, Botan. I was just using you as an example. Sit down."

Botan flopped down on her seat. "As I was saying a while ago, maybe you're just too prejudiced about her. I mean, before I was assigned to be your assistant, I thought you were a "typical aristocrat", as well. You really must give her and yourself time, you know. Heed your father, Koenma-sama."

"I guess you're right." Koenma sighed and resigned himself to the realities of his royal duties. Botan's agreement was his last blow. He was hoping, deep inside, that Botan would protest to it, but she didn't.

"So, you've finished you're ice cream? Good. Come on, let's go. Maybe I can still finish my work in the office. I also have a few souls to fetch."

Koenma managed a chuckle. "You're too tense and you know it. I'm your boss, remember? There are ways, my pet, on how to earn your bread despite your absences."

Botan stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey! That's abuse of power. Arigatou gozaimasu, but I prefer earning my pay fair and square."

"Come on, Botan, your senseless prattle isn't that useless. You do make me feel better."

"Ahhh! So that's my new line of duty, eh? The Prince of Reikai's therapist? Very funny."

Koenma laughed again, this time more freely. "You're a good friend, nitwit rower."

"I know." Botan smiled wryly. "And if I were you, I'd increase my good ole friend's salary."

"You're hopeless, Botan-chan."

She laughed.


	2. Cupid & Psyche

**Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.**

**Second Chapter**

_Cupid and Psyche_

WHEN GEORGE SATOME entered the office of the Prince of Reikai, the brooding face of a young man greeted him. Young man, for Enma-sama had ordered Koenma to stay in his adult form, which was quite logical to all of his subjects. By now, everybody knew he is affianced to Masago.

George is one of the few people who know how much displeasure this betrothal had caused Koenma. However, he also knows that his charge wasn't thinking about that right then. He had just read the latest report submitted by the various sectors of the investigation unit and it was not happy news.

There is an uprising against the present government of Makai. An aggressive militant group is trying to gain control of the now-peaceful Multi-nation State of Makai established some five years ago. This rebellion seemed unusually powerful. The present ruler of Makai suspects these insurgents have readily available sources of information. The question is, from whom?

The secrets of the government are processed and kept by the information agency run by appointed officials. People suspect an inside job was performed. However, with Mukuro as its chairperson, that would hardly be possible unless she herself is involved. Such allegations cannot be proven as of yet.

But will the interests of Reikai be affected by this unrest? Yes, very much. The insurgents seem keen on expanding the territories of Makai and are not happy about the peaceable government. Victory of these rebels is guaranteed to cause grave problems to Reikai in the future.

George knew Koenma will not be better off once he reads the reports he has brought. It seems Makai has found circumstantial evidence pointing to Reikai as the source of information. Knowing Koenma as well as he does, George was correct.

"Things are turning worse," Koenma grumbled, rubbing his eyes in an exhausted manner. "Call for Botan, will you George? It seems as though we have to cooperate with Yusuke even though he's no longer part of the Tantei. Being Raizen's son, he'll be able to help a great deal in solving this problem."

George was caught by surprise. "Botan?" he asked. "But didn't you know, Koenma-sama? Botan's been reassigned."

KOENMA IGNORED THE entreaties of the doorkeeper. He brashly entered the throne room of his father in anger. He marched up to the giant figure all red and fuming, demanding the reason behind Botan's reassignment.

"Botan's one of my best workers, Father!" he yelled. "What's the idea reassigning her?"

"I have my reasons, Koenma," said the giant, still calm despite having the nearly exploding prince in front of him. "And I have chosen to with hold it. Even from you."

Koenma struggled to calm his temper. "To where was she reassigned?"

"To the Castle Styx."

"To Masago's? How could you father? She and Masago will never be in good terms. Kumagai is a good man and a fine employer but Masago's gonna hate the very sight of Botan!"

"Nonsense, Koenma. Botan is perfect for her job at the Yoshio home. You said it yourself; she's an excellent worker. You wouldn't deny your fiancé a good handmaid now, would you?"

"B-b-b-but," Koenma struggled for something to say. "Botan's such a nitwit at times and-"

"The Yoshios are quite tolerant of mistakes. Too much if you ask me."

" What about her routes?"

"There are lots of spirit guides."

"Still-"

"Why are you so insistent in reclaiming the ferry girl to your office?" Enma-sama cut him off.

"Well, uh, she's my friend. Isn't it right I should protect her interests?"

"I have a feeling it's your personal interests you're trying to protect."

"Partly, yes." Koenma began fidgeting. "She's my friend. Her well-being is my concern."

"You keep saying she is your friend."

"Well, it's the truth."

"Yes." Enma focused his eyes directly at his son, searching. "But are you sure she's nothing more than that?"

Koenma evaded his look and reddened even more violently. "I don't know what you're talking about, father."

Enma regarded the other's reaction thoughtfully. "Perhaps, Masago is right," he murmured. He rose from his seat, sidestepped Koenma and gazed out the window.

Koenma abruptly stopped moving about and shot his father a look with his eyebrows raised. "Masago?"

Enma continued to gaze outside and was therefore unable to see the change in Koenma's expression. He ignored his son's outburst and then sank into deep thinking.

After a while, he spun around and having faced his son, said, "Do you really want to know the reason behind Botan's displacement?"

"But I thought- Well, yes. Of course, I do."

"How long has it been since you met Botan?"

"A couple of centuries?"

"And when did you become "friends" as you call it?"

"A decade ago? Yesterday?" Koenma shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"You must admit you two have been quite…um, inseparable this last few years."

"Well, she's really a lively person and she gives my boring monotonous existence life."

"A mere distraction, you mean?"

"Not exactly."

"How, exactly?"

"Well, um… you mentioned Yusuke and the others. I've become friends with their group and Botan is a part of it, isn't she? It's only natural, I think, since we've all been through so much together. I suppose we couldn't help but get fond of one another."

"I see."

"So apart from being a good worker, she's also a perfect companion for me. So may I have the ferry girl back?"

Enma waved him away. "No. The ferry girl had been sent away so that you'd have more time for Masago."

Blood rushed to Koenma's head. "Are you saying Botan lost her job because of me? Because she's my friend? Because Masago is jealous since I prefer Botan to her prissy painted self?"

"Calm down, Koenma. Masago is quite correct. You've been too taken up by the ferry girl that you don't even want to give Masago a chance to get to know you better and for you to know her."

"Are you asking me to replace Botan with Masago?"

"Replace? Let me clarify things for you, my dimwitted child. Botan is a servant, a friend as you say. Masago is your future wife. How can Botan be replaced by Masago while Masago is holding a part of your heart Botan has never carried?"

"If it's a part of my heart you're talking about," Koenma hissed icily. "If Masago is even holding a single cell of it, it's nothing compared to the part owned by Botan!"

Enma frowned. "Perhaps, its time for me to face the truth," he muttered.

"Quite right. I'll _never_ marry Masago!"

"You can't marry the ferry girl."

Koenma blushed violently. " I know that! And I don't have any plans in doing so 'coz she's just a friend. Our involvement has never been roma-"

Enma's frown deepened. "This has entered my mind more than once, Koenma. Only now do I dare ask you if it is, heaven forbid, true. Are you in love with her?"

"What?" Koenma was practically steaming, from both rage and embarrassment. "Of course, not! Just a friend, she's just a friend."

"Why are you being so defensive both of yourself and for her?"

"I'm not being defensive! I'm just telling the truth. Besides, I think I'm right in defending her. It's so unfair-"

"I'm just reminding you, Koenma. You are the heir to the throne of Reikai. She is just a ferry girl, a commoner. You know the restrictions. " Enma's face was stern.

"I SAID I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HER!"

The silence was deafening. Enma just sat there, eyebrows raised, with an expression of, perhaps, shock. For all you know, the expression could have said, "Uh-huh, yeah right."

Koenma relaxed, face disheveled. "I'm sorry father," he said, sighing. "I reacted childishly. Perhaps, it's because I have many problems lately. Makai is suspecting treachery from our part. What do we do about it?"

"You are right about one thing, Koenma," said Enma, sternly. "You are acting childish. Don't try changing the subject. We will talk about Makai later. Right now, we're tackling an urgent problem that's perhaps more enigmatic than the one in Makai."

The prince shook his head with much effort, as he was weary with exasperation. "There's nothing between us father. We're just good friends, really."

"Very good friends, apparently. I'm just trying to help you, son. Perhaps, your relationship with the ferry girl, assuming that you are telling the truth-"

"I am."

"-has not _yet_ gone that deep. But there's always a possibility. That's why I'm preventing that from happening. You are a prince, Koenma. You are forbidden to love a commoner. I'm doing this for your own good. I'm taking her away before you become too attached to her. You may think I'm cruel but I'm only saving you from a much crueler experience once you realize you can't reach the most precious thing in your life… Sorry, I'm starting to babble, eh? Just try not to get too close to the ferry girl for the time being, Koenma."

"Yes, father. I'll keep that in mind. Excuse me, I must attend to my duties now." Koenma bowed low and left the hall.

Then, as the door shut behind the son of the most powerful man in Reikai, Enma-sama turned back to the window he was gazing out.

"Trust me, my son. I know from experience."

"HEY, I'M REALLY sorry for getting you into this mess, Botan,"

"You know, that's the 53rd time you said that ever since you got here and that's barely 10 minutes ago," she answered irritated. "If you haven't got anything else to say, I must say you must go, Koenma-sama. I do have chores to do."

"Masago is making you a slave?" the prince thundered.

Botan looked at him in shock. "Calm down, Koenma-sama."

"Would you mind dropping the sama? It irritates me."

"What? What does that got to do with now?"

"You dare question the authority of the Prince of Reikai?"

"But- What do I call you then?"

"Duh. Koenma, of course. As I was saying, do they by any chance abuse or mistreat you?"

"Of course not. They're all very nice to me out here. And you're very wrong about Miss Masago. She's nice and beautiful and-"

"What do you do here then?"

"Well, I'm Miss Masago's personal valet-"

"Oh, great!" interrupted Koenma glumly. "One of my spirit guides get demoted to being a lady-in-waiting and he asks me why I'm upset."

"I was not demoted, OK? Besides, I think it's better out here. I mean, the work load's much lighter and the pay's much higher." She grinned almost drooling. "Plus, I can visit Ningenkai anytime I want. Hey, let's go to that fancy rialto thing on my next day off. It's my treat since I can now afford it. You were too crusty then when we had the chance."

Koenma's spirits seemed to have sunken lower. "I'm sorry but I kinda have a lot of things to do. Besides, my father said…"

Botan's face fell. "Oh right. I remember. Enma-sama told me to minimize my time spent with you so you'd have more time to get acquainted with Miss Masago and-"

"MY FATHER TOLD YOU THAT?" Koenma leapt from the chair he was perched on and was about to take off. "THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!"

Botan pulled at his cape before the latter could leave. "Koenma-sama! Calm down please."

"My name is Koenma. Koenma!"

"Koenma-sama. I would appreciate it if you stop struggling. You're too big for me to restrain."

"Let go me, Botan!"

"Koenma-sama, you're ruining the Yoshio's garden set. Please, stop it!"

"BAH! THEY CAN AFFORD A DOZEN GARDEN SETS. LET GO! I'M READY TO GIVE FATHER A PIECE OF MY MIND."

"STOP _shouting_ Koenma-sama."

"HEY I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU!"

"Koenma, _you_ are embarrassing ME!"

The prince stopped and grinned at her naughtily. "You just addressed me without the honorific. You are in BIG trouble…"

"_Koenma-samaaa!"_

Please Review! Please, please, please….. At least, it'll cure my laziness with uploading. Unless of course nobody wants to read the rest anyway. You can tell me that, too, if you want.


	3. Charon's Counterpart

Disclaimer: I do not own Botan, Koenma or the whole of Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm just borrowing them. So there.

**Third Chapter**

Charon's Counterpart

AN UNIDENTIFIED FLYING object swept down the horizon and down into the heart of Tokyo (?). That's not entirely accurate, though. It swerved to the residential area and disappeared into a dark alley.

Change, just like everything else in Ningenkai, is fast paced during this century, These changes actually made travelling to and from Ningenkai more perilous for the ferry girls. Now they need to worry about avoiding various heavier-than-air flying machines, not choking on the thick smog blanketing the cities, and of course, trying not to get too close to the towering skyscrapers.

Well, it does happen once in a while when a group of office workers get diagnosed with mass psychosis for claiming to see a kimono-garbed individual astride a paddle, hovering outside the glass window of their office some 20 floors above the ground. All right, so it's rarely "mass". Only a very limited number of people can see her and her colleagues. That is, her former colleagues.

Botan couldn't hide the fact that she was, and still is, a little surprised and disappointed when the master relieved her of her old occupation. After all, she did work with the best of her abilities ( fine, it does seem substandard at times) despite her measly salary and the delayed overtime pay. She was, at first, a bit mad at Koenma, too, for what happened. She was aware that more often than not she was a bumble brained ferry girl but the least Koenma could have done was too tell her personally instead of sending his petrifying father. Then she realized that the possibility of her childish supervisor just ordering _the_ Enma-sama was slim. Besides, Koenma is practically allergic to Masago. Why would he send her to the Yoshio palace? So she didn't bother to scold her Koenma-sama, especially after she realized it was actually like being promoted instead of otherwise.

She's quite right and she got her proof when Koenma came a couple of days later apologizing his head off. She assured him the best she could that he didn't need to apologize at all since the sweet smiling face of Miss Masago was certainly a great improvement over the chubby pouting face of a toddler. They fooled around for a while then after patching up the best they could the havoc they had stirred, Koenma left and returned to the cluttered, claustrophobia-inducing office of his. And that's when she was hit by the reality of her loss.

Botan became rather glum from then on. Miss Masago may be an angel while Koenma-sama is an imp but her old master is her good friend after all and they do have fun times together. It's not that they play around in the office all day but she knew she wouldn't be able to see much of her old chum after that. Koenma is forbidden to see her personally but if he can hang around Miss Masago then she'll be able to see him, too. Of course, you can't count on him doing that, prejudiced as he is against her.

In the end, she became rather depressed. If only he didn't came, she wouldn't have realized how much she'll miss him. At least, she could have waited in peace until Enma-sama finally intervenes and forces him to marry Masago. Then he would no longer be stopped from socializing with her.

So now she's no longer using her day off to prod her "kid brother" to take a break from his backbreaking toil. Now, she has more time to bond with Keiko and the others here in Ningenkai, just like now. She's heading to the Urameshi's restaurant. How glad she is they didn't take her oar away from her!

Botan landed smoothly in the alley. She dusted off her blue jeans and pink sweater after taking off the coat she was wearing. She strolled out into the broad daylight, trying to look less conspicuous than she really is.

She hung her coat on one of her arms. The temperature can get extremely chilly nowadays. It's only early November, but of course, things are much different when you're flying in the air at warp speed.

It was still early. Her appointment with Keiko is at 9:00 but it was merely a quarter past eight. She decided to go earlier, having been always accused of being a slowpoke. I guess, I can go easy now, she thought.

She strolled down the familiar streets of the Ningen city she grew to love over the years of working in it. She cherishes a great number of memories from this place; happy, sad, horrid, exciting, painful, bittersweet. Others were long forgotten at the passing of time, but others are imprinted on her mind forever. Even so, not all of them are delicious. Some made her heart ache mildly, others made her momentarily afraid as she relieved the terrifying experiences in her imagination.

But she loved them all; the cocky grin of Yusuke, the silly leer of Kuwabara, the wise expression of Kurama, the chiding frown of Genkai-obasan, the tough manly swagger of Shizuru as she beat up her brother, the expressive eyes of Keiko peering at her, the soft, almost melancholic voice of Yukina, and even the cranky scowl of Hiei. And, of course, there's her master's face watching her curiously with those mysterious golden brown peepers. There are times, silent moments, when she's able to gaze back into those without getting self-conscious or embarrassed. At such times, she manages to have a glimpse of the soul inside the moody Prince of Reikai: the eyes, they emanated sadness.

She notices that even though he's super touchy, too busy or strained with concentration. He also is a lonely soul, just like some of the spirits she used to ferry around. It always troubled her cheerful self when she sees him so tense, so rigid, and so… lifeless. She feels as if it's her fault, as if she's failing him. Is that why she made it her personal task to befriend him? Perhaps. All the same, it makes her so happy to see him relax and let go of himself once in a while. And it happens mostly here in Ningenkai. In Reikai, it's hard to move. There are too many watchful, criticizing eyes. They stifle him. They almost make his birthmark a stigma, a curse.

Botan almost laughed aloud as a boy did a double take and crashed against a by-stander. She could hardly blame him, though sky blue hair like hers occur quite rarely here, even with the great assortment of hair dyes available. Of course, there are practically no human being with that kind of hair color that's natural unless dyed with those strong destructive chemicals she'll never let her hair touch. Perhaps, they're all amazed at how pretty her hair is despite being supposedly color treated. Clairol commercial ad in TV. ;

She began looking around the buildings she passed. Most of them are places she had already been to once or twice before. She giggled at the sight of the dental clinic. She remembered the livid expression of Keiko as she determinedly dragged her then-fiancé to have his aching tooth checked up.

Then, there's the sport shop where they bought Yukina's first swimsuit. Kuwabara's and Hiei's crimson faces were absolutely picturesque, as the former blushed in adoration while the latter fumed in indignant rage. Though funny, it wasn't exactly a comfortable thought for Botan. Hiei threatened to mince her if the clothing she gives to Yukina becomes any skimpier.

Ah, there's the arcade! Yusuke and Kuwabara once talked her into tagging along with them. She was awful at most of what she tried to play and the other two rubbed it in just to annoy her. But it was so fun she dragged Koenma with her soon after. He was quite lucky at some video games, beating her by just thumping furiously at the buttons and jerking the joystick here and there. But she got even later. Oh, yes. She could just die laughing as she remembered him trying the Dance Revolution, his long lanky legs caught in a tangle. The expression on his red flustered face as he tried to comprehend the dizzying mass of arrows moving across the screen was totally priceless. Botan burst out laughing.

A few people turned their heads to stare at her. She continued to giggle to herself but managed to stop after using much effort. After a while, her eyes and thoughts wandered again.

There's that theater! Kurama once treated all the girls for an opera there. Botan thought it was all too thumpingly formal (but admits she liked it). Yukina, on the otherhand was very much enchanted. It was so good seeing the sweet mint-haired girl happy so Botan convinced Kuwabara to accompany them to the next show. She also included Koenma since she figured he'd be more at home in those fancy places. (It's such a thrill seeing her boss in formal clothes. Well, it is quite hard imagining him as a toddler when he's such a stunning gentleman in a tuxedo.) Another reason is that she didn't have enough cash to pay for all their tickets, and she did manage to blackmail the hapless prince into paying for everything, even dinner.

Besides, she'll probably get left out from those two lovebirds. All did go well despite that. That is, except from the time an old lady mistook them for a couple. Both of them reddened in embarrassment. Koenma had begun to explain that they were just chaperons for Yukina and Kuwabara, but Botan's unusual logic got the better of her.

"Oh no, ma'am!" she had said, fondly snuggling closer to the hyperventilating Koenma. "This is my boss."

And her master practically melted on the spot.

Now in the present, Botan fumed at herself, her face as bright as a ripe tomato. _How could you say that, you baka?_ She demanded of herself. _You sounded like some secretary fooling around with your boss. No wonder Koenma-sama wouldn't speak all the way home._ She turned even redder. In fact, she was blushing so much that a kid approached her.

"Hey lady," he said. "You're so cold, your whole face is frostbitten. Why don't you wear that coat? My mama said you'd get a cold if you don't."

Botan snapped out of it and managed to reassure the child that she was fine. He trotted off and entered the ice cream parlor. Botan followed him with her eyes.

The ice cream parlor is one of the gang's favorite hangout place, aside from Keiko's place. Of course, she and Koenma go there sometimes, too. But this wasn't the parlor wherein he first complained about having to marry Miss Masago. That's in Reikai and it's really more expensive there than here.

She walked on and soon caught sight of a bar. It was the first one she ever got into (not counting the one she entered trying to prod Atsuko to kiss Yusuke to life), which is, according to Kurama, one of the classiest place around. She went there for a nightcap but didn't drink anything other than a glass of iced tea and tried some tonic water although she was far from being a minor. Who was she with then? Oh right. She was with Koenma again.

She passes a few other places, growing increasingly forlorn as she realized that she's been to almost each and everyone of them with her old boss. But who else would she go with? Yusuke and Keiko are too busy building the foundations for their future family. The same could be applied to Yukina and Kuwabara, and even for Shizuru. Kurama doesn't have a family to support but he's super busy with his business. Genkai is much to old to go gallivanting about, but she's cool for a nice and quite tea ceremony. Hiei is definitely out of the question.

All the same, she was quite bothered that everything reminded her of Koenma. She pondered over the question, still walking along dreamily as if in a trance. Her thinking was cut short when…

**BANG!**

"OUCH!" she yelped as her whole head reverberated with the impact. Her forehead smarted as she rubbed the red portion that smacked against the pole where the street sign hung. Only then did she realize that she already passed the ramen shop.

"Idiot!" she cursed herself. "That's what you get for thinking salacious thoughts."

Off she ran to the store.

KEIKO LOOKED UP from the accounting she was doing when the chimes tinkled.

"Good morning, Botan," she greeted brightly, rising from the stool she was perched on. "You're quite punctual today."

"Punctual?" a voice roared from the interior. "Botan's here _already_?"

"Hello to you too, Keiko," Botan answered. She went to her friend and sat on the seat she was offered. She rubbed the swollen bump on her forehead.

"Ooh, nasty little bruise," said Keiko, pulling Botan's hand from it. "What happened?"

"I collided with a sign," muttered Botan.

"A little ice would be good. Hey, Yusuke! Get some ice, will you? Please!"

"Yeah, sure," he answered.

Keiko turned back to Botan. "I think you were still half-asleep."

"I was thinking too much." Botan grinned. "See? I told you it's unhealthy."

Yusuke appeared carrying a bowl containing ice.

"Hiya, Botan," he said. "What's up? Is your clock broken or something? You're twenty minutes early."

Botan didn't answer. She took the ice wrapped in a cloth Keiko gave her and pressed it against her head.

"You didn't have to be so early, Botan," continued Yusuke. "We know you're very busy, especially with that workaholic baby as your boss. What did you do anyway, bash your head on the bed post?"

"I bashed my head on a post, alright," she answered. "A sign post."

"You weren't able to tag Koenma along?"

Botan shook her head. "Sorry. I'm not allowed to see him. Besides, I don't work for him anymore. I'm the lady-in-waiting of his fiancée."

"Fiancée?" repeated Yusuke.

"But why are you forbidden to see him?" followed up Keiko.

Botan grinned. "Not really."

"Which question are you answering?"

"Both. Koenma-sama hasn't agreed to marry Miss Masago yet. Enma-sama agreed to give him time to get to know her better but decided to displace me anyway from the office. He thought I was the reason why Koenma-sama didn't even want to visit Miss Masago."

""Well," queried Yusuke. "Aren't you?"

Botan stared at him, straining to see if he was by chance kidding. He is perfectly serious.

"Yeah," piped in Keiko. "Koenma is pretty much taken by you."

Botan reddened. "No," she said, groping for words. "He's just too prejudiced against Miss Masago. All right, yes, I'm partially the reason. I guess, he's so used to crazy old me that he's afraid to befriend the sane aristocrat people more like himself."

Yusuke was satisfied by her answer and thereby lost interest. "Ok. So what are we waiting for? This better be good, Botan. I'm leaving Angel in charge and she's just new."

"I didn't know you cook."

"Well, I do. Don't change the subject."

"Come on, Yusuke. It's just once in while we could get together. I mean, for the first time ever, I managed to hunt down and convince Hiei to come and join us without Kurama's or Yukina's help."

Keiko, however, was unable to go past the Koenma subject. "I don't believe you Botan," she said out of the blue.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Are you sure that's just the reason why Koenma didn't even want to get along with this girl?"

"Well… He's upset because he's father's trying to "run his life" again so I guess he's just rebelling a bit."

"Perhaps." Keiko finally said. She decided she won't get the answers she wanted with Yusuke hanging about, grinning frivolously. "Let's go then."

"Where will we meet the others?" asked Yusuke.

"At the station," said Botan. "Genkai-obasan is waiting for us at her home, of course. Kuwabara picked up his sister from the airport this morning so Yukina should be with Kurama and maybe Hiei."

"You got everything ready, huh?"

"Of course."


	4. Indifference

(May 3, 2005 - I removed lyrics to "Lucky" by Britney Spears, in compliance with FFnet's recent warning. Good riddance, I say. LOL)

Disclaimer: I do not own Botan, Koenma or the whole of Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm just borrowing them. So there.

**Fourth Chapter**

_Indifference_

THERE'S NOTHING PLAIN or unremarkable about the person that stared back at her. Her perfect eyebrows, her perfect nose, her perfect mouth, her perfect eyes, every one of her perfect features, are perfectly organized on her flawless face. She pulled off one of the ribbons that previously kept the jet-black waves off her face. Now, her hair framed her face as it cascaded down her back fluidly, rippling and shinning in its sheer health. It didn't matter how she fixed it. No matter how her hair is styled, she's still stunning. And she knew it.

But what is physical beauty? If it comes to that, what is money? What is power? What is popularity?

For some people, those seem to be the sole purpose of life. That's why many regarded her as lucky. Lucky, indeed! If they only knew. What's the use of all those if your spirit inside is dying? What does it matter if she is Yoshio Masago, daughter of the most influential man in Reikai, Kumagai? So what if she's the prospect wife of the Prince of Reikai, Koenma Daiou, heir to the throne? Who would want to marry a complete stranger? Who would want to have everything and yet lack freedom?

She sighed rubbing the mirror with her long delicate white fingers. The glass had fogged causing her reflection to look unclear.

She shivered, hugging the plush robe close about her. She was about to call her personal valet, the pretty girl Botan, but remembered in time that the latter is in Ningenkai. She stood up and added some wood to the picturesque fireplace, making the flames blaze more so. Yes, she can do those things by herself, despite having a great multitude of servants to wait on her. She managed to learn, somehow, during those rare times of her privacy, like now. Why then did she have to call Botan? Force of habit, perhaps. The servants won't allow her to move a single muscle if it can be helped.

She sank down again in the soft bed, savoring the smoothness of the silken sheets against the exposed part of her skin and the warmth and cuddle-someness of the thick blanket of fur. Momentarily, she blanched, recoiling in terror as she remembered that this object that gave her comfort was once a living thing. Her gentle heart ached for that white-haired beast from which that hide was stolen.

_It needs it more than I do_, she thought, sighing demurly.

Her gaze settled outside, past the curtains of her canopied bed, and out the drapery-adorned window. The sky was dim, gloomy, and sleepy, almost reflecting her dark mood. Yet, it somehow induced her to think, to reflect, and to muse with her thoughts.

It was nearly an hour later when she rose from her bed. Her eyes are wet. 

"Where are you, Botan?" she unwittingly murmured.

She has become rather fond of the ferry girl. Ever since she came, Masago's spirits somehow lifted. Botan is a happy individual and that happiness she somehow shares to everyone around her. Masago misses her already even though she has only been gone for barely a few hours. Masago didn't want to sink into the bleak world of loneliness, of emptiness, of discontent. She has grown accustomed to the ferry girl's smile that always made her appreciate herself.

Ferry girl. Somehow, Masago can't stop referring to Botan as that. Of course, she knew the servant girl was once the assistant of Koenma, her betrothed. However, it was never really clear why she was displaced from her position or how the prince reacted to it. Her father never told her.

Masago is glad Botan was reassigned. If the prince of Reikai is anything like the way he appears to be, Botan can't be allowed to stay with that glowering slave master. Her sweet spirit would probably only get hurt with that kind of insensitive master.

She, Masago, is sensitive, and she does read a trace of sadness in her maid's countenance. Her smile and laughter lights up the day but still, there it is. The melancholic, almost wistful expression glints from her lavender eyes.

Perhaps, she had been wrong about Koenma. Maybe he doted on Botan, too, like herself. Maybe Botan didn't want to be separated from her old boss. Maybe…

If only she could ask Botan herself! But somehow, Masago knew her servant wouldn't satisfy her curiosity.

Funny, she was almost envious of Botan. Envious of what? She has everything: wealth, power, intelligence, beauty. She's perfect according to the belief of some. It disturbs her so badly sometimes she's tempted to do something bad deliberately just to let them face reality. Like, she just wants to push somebody, slap him and say, " Hello? I'm not some goddess, OK? I'm fallible. I'm just as imperfect as any of you!"

What does it matter? Isn't it nice to be adored? It hurts her that people can be so superficial, so masked, so alone. Botan is different. She can be happy without as much as an effort. Masago really does envy her after all.

Masago shifted her position and caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. She saw her own eyes staring back at her. They were exotic, large, almond-shaped, almost tilted. The pupils shone with the emerald fire of the iris surrounding them, but somehow, she felt it was cold. Her eyes had no depth, no eloquence, no soul. She envied, if it was possible for her immaculate self to feel such egoism, Botan's lavender peepers that bubbled over with emotions, shifting as her mood changes. Almost always, it was happiness that showed through, a wistful kind of joy that seem to reminisce on the past.

Even Botan's mouth fascinated her. Sure, it was nothing against her small red lips many long to kiss. However, the rose-like beauties usually remain passively tucked into a forced, haltingly worn smile, so unlike Botan's. Hers are always formed into a warm willing smile, or else open with casual laughter. They are nice even though she jabbers much and doesn't even pause long enough to let the two lips touch for longer than a couple of seconds.

She would give anything for a life as free as Botan's!

"Masago!" yelled a voice from outside.

_No_, she thought. She is trapped in a limbo-like puppet house, one where she is being controlled like a marionette.

"I'm coming, brother," she called back. "I'll just join you in the den."

She threw on a decent dress and was soon enough entering the richly furnished den of their home. It was a little cold (not really literally, for the fireplace was blazing deliciously) and a little stiff, but it was at least familiar and therefore comforting.

"Ieyasu?" she asked.

A tall figure rose from the window seat. He looked at her directly, bowing slightly in greeting. As always, her eyes locked on to his. He always has that effect. Not only on her but also on most people.

It is probably his eyes. They were almost exactly like hers but the shade of his green is different. Hers was a fiery marble-like emerald green while his is almost yellowish, like a cat's. They bore into your own, burning through the mask everyone wears and seeing right through the heart. Oddly enough, it wasn't alarming. It's rather, well, relaxing. For her, that is. For other people, they feel a slight suspicion of treachery, which is soon conquered by a certain feeling of tranquility and submissiveness. The difference is, Masago has known him since birth, and they don't. At least, that's her guess.

"Good morning, sister," he greeted her.

"Good morning, Ieyasu," she answered demurely. "You called for me?"

"Family talk. Sit down kid." He sat on the divan beside the fire.

"Where are father and Atsumori?" She sat down beside him.

Ieyasu shrugged. "They'll come soon. In the meantime, how's the prettiest girl in all of Reikai?"

"Never better, sir."

Ieyasu gave out a laugh in his soft mellow voice. "Ah, you're still the same."

Masago frowned. "What?"

"You still don't know how to lie." He ran his fingers through his blackish green spiky hair, whose dark tint intensifies the startling shade of his eyes. "You're too naïve for this universe. You won't survive, girl."

"And you, how are you doing in Makai? I heard there's trouble."

"It's hardly our problem, really. Koenma's too paranoid if you ask me."

"Ought not you say Koenma-sama?"

Ieyasu's upper lip curled in amusement. "Why set a rift to discriminate between us? Future brother-in-laws should be exactly what they'll be: brothers."

Masago turned her face away from her brother. "And what of me?" she murmured.

Ieyasu raised his eyebrows. "You don't like the arrangement? I, for one, thought you'd be happy. You so admired the chap."

" A crush, yes, years ago. Marriage is a different matter. For one thing, well, there must be love."

"Sometimes, Masago, I suffer to think how useless your beauty is if you don't have brains at par with it. Sure, you're intelligent alright, but you don't have much sense."

"But I don't even know him! Besides-"

"Koenma is famous. You, for one, are a best match for him. Are you throwing away this chance to be queen?"

"I'm tired of this ostentatious life," she whispered. "I want to be of some use."

"Then marry him. That way you can serve not only him, but also your countrymen, and of course, your kinsmen."

"But I haven't even gotten to know him, aside from the functions and parties and stuff."

"What more do you want? Other people don't know him at all. Not personally, like you."

_He hates me, that old snob! And I'm not too fond of him either_, she thought. But before she could say anything else, the doors slammed against the adjacent walls as it opened.

In came a tall young man not in the least unlike Ieyasu; same built, same manly finesse, same hair, (though the former's hair is long and was tied into a ponytail) everything alike as if cloned, except for the eyes. The scowling glittering eyes were almost the same but the iris is a dark jade green; fathomless, a whirlpool of undisclosed emotions. This time, the anger and disappointment showed through.

"Masago, how can you do that?" he yelled. He had the same voice as Ieyasu but less mellow and somewhat authoritative. "Do you realize how much shame you have caused our family? Father could have lost his job. What's the idea of ditching the Prince of Reikai?"

"I'm sorry, brother!" she pleaded tearfully, wringing her hands in despair. "I didn't think he'd come at all. He didn't twenty-five times before."

A short pudgy old man came pattering in. "Oh dear me!" he exclaimed.  
"Now, now, Ash. Don't upset your sister."

"Father, please. I don't think she understands what's at stake here."

"Yeah?" butted in Ieyasu. "I understand perfectly, as perfect as yourself, o flawless Atsumori. You're afraid you'd fall out of favor from the palace, afraid you'll lose your precious little position as the intelligence center director. Or maybe you love Enma's butt too much to stop from kissing it."

" Ieyasu," Kumagai attempted to say. "That's a very offensive thing to say to your-."

"I'll handle it, Father," interrupted Atsumori. "Listen, you. If there's anybody who should be afraid, it should be you. The Makai embassy is a mess and nothing's happening about that problem-"

"Boys-"

"What?" quipped Ieyasu disdainfully. "You want it to become worse?"

"Ieyasu-"

"That's not funny, you!" growled Atsumori, even more furiously. "If I had not intervened, your butt would have been roasting in the torture chambers of Makai. A hell of a thank you I got."

"Atsumori-"

"Stay out of this, father," said Ieyasu. He's, mad, too. His eyes glared at the other luminously. "I see. So now you think you're better. I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if that person in charge of the IC did his job and prevented the leakage of information from the archives."

"Mercy!"

"That's not the point here!" Atsumori raged, ignoring the gibbering old man. "It's not easy being in my position. With all these powerful beings, what prevents an inside job-"

"So now you're blaming me!" roared Ieyasu.

"I'm risking everything trying to help you! Don't put words into my mouth, you worthless ingrate."

"I didn't ask for you help."

"Boys!" yelled Kumagai. "Stop this!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS OLD MAN!" screamed the other two. They resumed their explosive arguing until someone finally started a fistfight. They didn't notice the girl slip out of the uproarious room. They didn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

Notes:

1. Erg! I forgot! You know, I had a hard time deciding whether or not I should add the lyrics of **Britney's** _Lucky_. I thought it's a nice touch but then again I'm not too fond of Britney Spears. Oh, well!

Feedbacks, please!

Please review!


	5. A Bump and Another

Disclaimer: I do not own Botan, Koenma or the whole of Yu Yu Hakusho. I'm just borrowing them. So there.

**Fifth Chapter**

A Bump and Another

BANG!

CRASH!

THUD!

YAOoooOUCH!

"Urgh, finally, I found it," moaned the hapless fellow as he struggled to relinquish his head from underneath the mass of books and rubbish that fell on him. "For a prince," he added under his breath. "You certainly have lots of problems."

He sat on his haunches and on top of the rest of the paraphernalia of literature around him. He began flipping through the pages in earnest.

"Mean vain spinster," he muttered to himself dejectedly. "Wasting my precious time. Who does she think she is? That woman has tangled with the wrong man. Grrr… Look at all this wasted time. I should have finished this by now. Now, if there's anything prehensile about this darn thing…" flip, flip. "This is all father's fault. I already told him I'm- Ah! Here it is!" Cough! Cough! Gag. "Stupid dusty book."

Koenma stood up groggily. He picked up the scattered objects in his vicinity and stuffed them the best he could back to their orderly sanctuary. Then he kicked the drawer of the filling cabinet shut.

"The humans have even more efficient offices. Why can't they just computerize everything?"

He picked up the stuff he gathered from the archive plus his heels and was about to stalk out off the place. As he arched his head slightly to one side to check if he had left anything, he noticed the hatch leading to the basement was left open.

"Damned door," he growled, marching towards it. Or so he was until one of his feet got caught on the other and sent him tripping. He would have landed on the floor, his face receiving a perfect slap from the cold waxed cement, but then, he was barely a few feet from the trap door.

"Aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuaaargh!"

Thud.

Rattle.

Crash.

Blag. Bonk. Clank. Blag. Bog. Boom.

"Whish willy shucks…"

IT WAS NEARLY thirty minutes after the loud commotion, before the prince of Reikai emerged from the well-kept archives of the spirit realm. He was dusty, disheveled and totally ill tempered as he strode to his office, glowering at various oni and ferry girls he happened to pass by. They now knew how wrong it was to ignore the clangings and bangings from the underground.

Koenma was furious. Nobody even came to at least peek to see if he was still alive down there. It was quite easy extracting his mangled body from the pile of unidentified crap that had engulfed him. The searching of the files he had taken out from upstairs was the one that took a long time. To make matters worse, the lights were broken and he had to make do with groping in the dark.

"There goes my free time," he raged to himself. "I'll never return to that infernal hole if I can help it. Now, I can start figuring out how in Reikai's name did that unpopular youkai get his claws on that massive an army."

He finally reached his office. Its doors were shut.

_Good_, he thought. _No one's scuttling about. It means they've no work for me yet._

He turned the knob. Before he could pull the door towards him, they swung at their own accord. Then came an avalanche of white sheets from a mountain of paper.

Rumble, rumble. Whoosh, whoosh.

"Oh, shit. I knew it was to good to be true."

BOTAN BOUNCED MERRILY down the corridors of the Yoshio mansion. She had changed the clothes she wore to the picnic since they were filthy but didn't bother to wear her uniform. Masago let her wear whatever she wants unless they go out or are having some company in the house. That's why right now she's garbed in a warm turtleneck and corduroy pants.

Or so she was, (bouncing around, that is) until she bumped something like a pillar.

Botan was flung off her feet. She landed on the marble floor with a thud.

"Yaow!" she whimpered piteously, rubbing her butt. "I didn't notice that before. Ooops."

Her "oops" came out almost like a gasp. She was startled, no, shocked, when she looked up and saw a towering giant in front of her.

"Master Atsumori?" she stammered. She stood up quickly, dusting her clothes. She felt smothered by his gaze. She avoided his look but inadvertently caught glimpse of his ominous peepers. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I mistook you for Sir Ash. I didn't realize-"

Ieyasu silenced her with a curt jerk of his hand. She had lowered her head but sensed that she was being measured and was found wanting. She was puzzled by his next words.

"So you're his woman," he muttered. "Not bad. I didn't expect much from that infantile worm."

She frowned, her face hidden by her loose tresses. _What does he mean_, she pondered. _Who is he anyway?_

"Your name?" he continued aloud. This time the question was directed to her.

"Botan, sir," she answered timidly.

He nodded. "Ah." He became deep in thought. After a while, he noticed the girl still standing there motionless. "You may go, you may go," he said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

She bowed and was about to leave.

"Ah, yes," he called after her. "You may address me as Lord Ieyasu."

And he was gone.

Botan breathe a sigh of relief. "Creepy fellow," she said. With a shrug, she went off on her way. She gathered her long hair and tied it into its customary ponytail on her way.

Soon, Botan arrived at her destination. She knocked on the door and called out, "Miss Masago?"

She carefully poked her head inside the door.

"Miss Masago?" Botan repeated. "Are you alright?"

Sob. Sniffle. Sigh.

"Oh."

Botan stepped into the room, shutting the door close behind her gently. She looked around the neat, lavishly designed room and saw who she was searching for. Masago was sitting on the floor, her head nestled on her bare white arms folded on the window seat.

"What's wrong?" Botan approached her mistress.

Masago lifted her head momentarily. "Come here," she ordered. Then, her head resumed its previous position.

Botan did as she was told. She sat beside Masago's head in the window seat and gazed out into the pretty picture of autumn outside.

"Ah," she said presently. "You're missing it."

With what seemed to be much effort, Masago lifted her head from its position and transferred it to Botan's lap.

"I can barely move," she murmured. "Tell me."

Botan stroked the black mass of shiny glossy silk that is the hair of her mistress and began. "I see a sinking globe," she said. "It's slowly disappearing down the horizon. I noticed that its vibrant yellow flame is somewhat dulled. It's because of the water, I guess. The fire of life is being extinguished by the ice-cold waters of the sea. But fear not. Tomorrow, it shall rise again, like a phoenix from the ashes. Re-lit. Re-flamed. Reborn…

"You had no idea I can be poetic, huh? Now you do. The sun's really gone now. But don't worry. There's always tomorrow. Tomorrow you'll see it again."

Silence resumed as her voice drifted and disappeared into twilight. They remained in their position, motionless like sentinels, waiting as the young night deepened. Soon, darkness engulfed the forlorn room.

Masago was afraid. No, the darkness was not menacing. Still, she shuddered at it, tried to elude it, tried to escape from it. She loathed the darkness. It reminded her of herself. Same emptiness, same coldness, same isolation.

Botan felt the other girl clutch her thigh so tightly. It hurt. Surely, the flesh will bruise later. She gasped both from pain and surprised. Nonetheless, she didn't pry her hold loose. She gently took her mistress's hand and squeezed it in hers.

"What's the matter?" Botan asked. A puzzled worried edge can be sensed from her voice. "Is all these caused by the date? Koenma-sama didn't hurt you now, did he?"

Botan felt her mistress shake her head. "No," she said. "I didn't even see him."

"He ditched you again? Well, he hasn't changed a bit then. He always loses himself in that mountain of paperwork. Still, this is the 25th time, right? He may have forgotten on purpose. I'm afraid he doesn't like you at all. He's such a stupid to-"

"Oh, he came," interrupted Masago. "It was I who didn't show up. Now, everyone's in trouble. How can I save the face of my family?"

"Who's in trouble? Nobody. Koenma-sama's probably glad you didn't come. I'm sorry, Miss Masago, but he's prejudiced against you. He h-hates you…"

Botan's voice gradually lowered as she finished the sentence.

"Don't worry about it," said Masago. "I'm used to that. Being hated by jealous people, that is. And I'm even more familiar with prejudice. Everybody has that against me. Even you."

"Mistress?"

"I was born in this world of glittering jewels and fine clothes. I have everything a person can ever want. But what about those things man truly needs? People in this time… their views are distorted. But I do this for my family. I do this for them."

Botan frowned a bit. She didn't quite totally comprehend Masago but she continued to pat the latter.

"It's ok," she soothed the crying girl.

Really," Masago whispered. "Things would be different if I had a…"

Before finishing, she shook her head, seemingly rejecting the tears. She looked up to Botan.

"Tell me about Koenma-sama."

Please, please give me some feedbacks. Please review!

Should I bring in the next chapters?


	6. Secrets

**Disclaimer: Same old, same old.**

**Sixth Chapter**

Secrets

"DARN!" YELLED THE voice from underneath the pile of paper. All right, so that is a tad too inaccurate. For starters, there wasn't just a pile of paper. There was a whole mountain range of it. Besides, the person was surrounded by it, not underneath it. At least, not yet.

Koenma kicked his desk furiously, sending a tremor passing through his general vicinity. The force sent an avalanche of papers tumbling down, thereby undoing work done for nearly seven hours.

The young man emerged from the chaos, clutching a dirty book of some sort. He ignored the mess around him and headed out of his office, searching for a less tense place.

He headed for the garden. It's the perfect place to relax, unless some pesky gardener comes around to "watch" him. Isn't he a little too old to have a babysitter?

He finally arrived at his favorite spot where he could enjoy his break without all those secretaries running about. He quickly reclined into the hammock hanging between the two adjacent trees. This is the very same one Botan helped him set up a few years ago. It was intentionally situated some distance away from the palace so that he can have some excuse of not hearing the panic stricken entreaties of his subjects.

"Ow," he yelped, as the needles that have accumulated through the passage of time pricked his butt.

He jumped off, clearing away the various plant materials. He frowned a bit. It reminded him of how long it has been since he sat on that thing for a little rest. It reminded him of how long it has been since a certain ferry girl he dotted upon had been relocated to a new workstation.

He plunked himself back into it again, eyes wide open and arms flailing momentarily as he nearly slipped from the stretchable mass of woven plant fibers. Muttering murderously, he attempted again. Thankfully, he was successful.

"Koenma no baka," he said playfully to himself. "That silly duck will kill you if she finds out you're researching while supposedly resting. Perhaps, her leaving has its ups, too. Breaks are now more productive than they've previously been."

His voice hinted sadness and dread, as if he had betrayed her for pointing out the obvious.

"Never mind," he said fiercely, shaking his head in determination. "Concentrate."

With a resigned air, he sighed deeply and flipped open the book. He frowned again, this time with annoyed puzzlement.

_What's this_, he thought. _This is a journal or a diary._

He searched the book, scanning the yellowing pages, looking for a year or some author's name. There was neither. He went back to the first page after the flyleaf, the one with January 1st written on it.

"January first," he read aloud easily for the handwriting was classy and elegant, somewhat old fashioned. "I shouldn't be reading this."

The last phrase he didn't read from the diary. He gazed up to the barely visible treetops above him, as if expecting help in deciding from up there. In the end, his insolent curiosity prevailed. After all, being prince of Reikai gives him little opportunity to practice the virtue of respecting a neighbor's privacy.

He began to read.

January 1st

A new year, a new life and for me, a new journal. I've decided to write down my thoughts, my feelings, everything. And you, my friend, are the lucky one.

Tamara Lavinia's diary? Hmmm… Everyone will be eager to get his or her hands on you. No, this is only for my child. For my future child, that is.

This is the first secret I wish to share with you. I am with child. I am certain that he is the king's son (who else could have sired the child?). But is he/she the heir to the throne? I do not know.

I write to you, o diary, so that someone might know who I really am, how I really feel, what I really think. Because of this, I name you Redmond, for you shall be my counselor, one I've never had all my life. Also, you shall be the one to introduce to my child his mother, so that he/she may know me in case… in case, I shouldn't be there.

You ask why I seem bleak. It is New Year's Day for Reikai's sake. After all, we are in heaven, aren't we? The celebration is glorious and ostentatious, as usual. Many people were happy. Perhaps, I, too, was happy.

Sometimes, I don't know. Not anymore. Perhaps, I've stored all the emotions too much inside that they have run into each other like spilled paint. Now, they're one, uniform, indistinguishable.

You will help me. Please do, for the sake of the child. Please do.

Koenma stopped. He searched again the cover of the journal, searching for something to indicate the year it was written. Nothing, of course.

He scratched his head. "I wonder who owned this," he mused aloud. "This is a diary of some queen or maybe a concubine a long time ago.

"Duh. I wouldn't know So much for Koenma who has unimaginable information at his fingertips. Even with the name "Tamara Lavinia", I wouldn't know. I am in a society, after all, where male dominance has flourished in it's past.

"I don't even know the name of my own mother, and she's queen. At least, she should have been queen before she passed away. I always assumed that it's too painful for father to talk about but…" He frowned. "I don't remember at all."

He went back to reading. He flipped through the pages, skipping those he thought uninteresting.

Her name is Catalina…

"Catalina?" repeated Koenma aloud. "Who is that? It has to be a clue to the author's identity. Maybe, I should read the whole entry."

He started turning back a few leaves. He stopped when he finally came upon the beginning of the said entry.

January 17th

What can I say? I suppose you already know why I write here. You know what made me leave the cramped office and all my work unfinished. I'm sorry. I have wet your pages with tears.

I know I am selfish and discontented. He never fails to mention it. Neither does my mother or anybody else I grew up with for that matter.

I have fought with him again and this time, it's for no trivial matter. However, neither is it a new one.

For the people of Reikai, the Royal Couple is the model of all the other couples in the land. They are deceived, however. The king has a secret, a secret perhaps only I know about. He has a concubine, a woman he had loved since well before our marriage.

Our marriage has always been faithless and loveless. I've always known that. We were after all just forced to get married.

None of us did anything to prevent it. He was too spineless to defy the traditions, to fight for his love. I am a woman. I have no say whatsoever in such matters. I am to shut up and go along with whatever decisions the men made.

Her name is Catalina Grey Yoshio. We had fought because for the first time ever, I had complained about my husband's illicit affair with this woman. Previously, I had remained silent as they did their dirty work in front of my own two eyes. But now is another matter.

I did it for my child. I did it so that he may have a normal family when he is born. Perhaps, I do it for her, as well. She has a child, too, for crying out loud. She has her own family.

Now, I know it is futile so I no longer care. But mark my words, if these sins affect my baby one way or another, I will never forgive them. And also myself, for I am too cowardly to stand for what is right.

Koenma whistled. "This is red hot stuff," he remarked. "No wonder they didn't computerize the files. It's too perilous with all these secrets hidden there about the family and all. I wonder…"

He returned his attention to the diary.

February 3rd

A great banquet was held today celebrating the victorious return of the-

"Koenma-sama?" asked a voice.

"Later, later," he grunted.

soldiers of our great army. We have won the war, so its seems, and the-

"I'm sorry, Koenma-sama, but-"

"I said later!"

Makai armies have been driven back. Now that Makai has adopted a feudal government system, it has been harder to-

"Koenma-sama, I am fully aware I have no right to be here but if you would at least be civil, then I can get my business over with and leave you in peace!"

Koenma flew out of his hammock in surprise and guilt. He landed hard on his behind.

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Masago, darting forward instinctively. "Are you alright, sir?"

Before she reached him, Koenma had already pounced on the diary he had accidentally tossed away a while ago.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered as he crawled away. Then, he hoisted himself up with the help of the springy hammock.

"Well," he asked after a few moments later as he dusted his clothes. She stood there noiseless. "What is it you want?"

"Um," Masago started, begin to fidget. "I came to apologize for not being able to come yesterday. I do hope you can forgive me. I realize I have caused your Highness much inconvenience."

"It's quite alright, madam," said Koenma coldly. "Quite right."

He began to walk away, leaving Masago by herself, motionless.

"Well?" he said, stopping after a few paces. "What are you waiting for? Is your driver waiting outsides or do I have to have you dropped off to Castle Styx?"

He turned around cocking an eyebrow at her expectantly. Masago, on the other hand, stared at him in indignant shock, her mouth partly opened. She was forewarned about this but nonetheless was so unused to this kind of treatment she was unable to conceal her initial surprise. Still, she didn't come unarmed.

Her astonished expression suddenly shifted to that of annoyance. Koenma immediately noticed the change and it became his turn to gawk. He started as Masago's shapely eyebrows collided, her previously dreamy eyes narrowing frighteningly, blazing and sending sparks all over.

"Listen, your Highness," she snapped, clearly having much trouble in controlling her temper. "Your Grace must be feeling high and mighty knowing I went through all the trouble of chasing after you and apologizing even though it is all your fault. Well, I hate to disappoint you but I have no interest at all in your Majesty. I hate this arrangement a hundred times more than you do. Imagine marrying a spoiled brat of a prince! I'm doing this for my family and I would greatly appreciate it if you would please cooperate, o Great Prince Koenma."

Masago stopped, panting slightly. She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for his reply. Koenma just kept on staring, his jaw hanging open. He snapped out of it with a shake of his head.

"Um," he stuttered. "I get it. This arrangement sucks. I do this for my father, too. But I'm busy, alright? I'm not like you. I've no time to spare on this monkey business. Sorry."

He started walking away slowly. Then, he returned to disengage the hammock from the trees. He folded it with a deft motion of his hands, and then faced her.

"Let's go," he said, starting to move again. "It's going to rain soon. We'll talk in the receiving room."

Masago waited until the tall one was at least five meters away. Then she smiled privately.

"What do you know," she breathed. "It worked."

A few drops of rain fell from the sky. Masago lifted her face to the heavens, letting the dots of water wet her face. Then, she jogged after the prince, her prospect spouse.


	7. X-Mansion Styx

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. Claim nothing. Nothing to pay lawyers.**

**Seventh Chapter**

X-Mansion Styx

THIS IS CASTLE Styx, home of the clan of Yoshio. It has stood there for time immemorial, perhaps since the dawn of this reality.

Right, it's not really a castle. It looks more like a modern day Ningen mansion. Perhaps, it was once a fortress but the designs have changed since then, varying as each new era passed and new trends in architecture appeared.

It certainly is famous for its versatility. Still, the Castle Styx has remained mysterious and secretive despite its prestige and splendor. And in the depths of its forgotten neglected corners, a new mystery unravels.

In some concealed portion of the mansion, a small fire blazed in the aged fireplace. It was measly and negligible compared to those enjoyed by the legitimate members of the household. Nonetheless, it provided enough heat and light to suit the lone figure in that broken down room.

At first, the person or whatever it might be, seemed just right for the mysterious abandoned place. He emanated a certain aura of maleficence, of ominousness, of hidden danger.

Another look would show that he is a familiar figure in the manor. But what is he doing down here in this god-forsaken place?

Soon, another figure came. It was an imp, as we shall soon discover as soon as he steps into the firelight. Its social status is one that has long been considered taboo, illegal even, if such thing is possible. Yes, he is a slave. Slavery has long been forbidden in Reikai.

"Master," it said in its deathly voice. "We have finished everything as you wished."

"Good," replied the man. His voice was deep and authoritive. "You can now move to Level II of the plan."

The creature cleared its throat nervously. "Um… We are not questioning your orders sir but infiltrating the office is not an easy thing."

"I'm surrounded by idiots," the man muttered in exasperation. "That was what Level I was for. Everything is set."

"Well, there's the prince, sir."

"Ah, don't worry about him. He's elsewhere, fulfilling the wishes of his, or rather our, father."

"Uh, sir. What about the people immune to your powers?"

"Yes, yes. I already took care of that. It will be a cinch finishing the job."

"Well, then, sir. Everything is going as you planned." It bowed.

The man nodded. "Let's go."

"YOU LOOK GLUM," said Masago. Well, you usually are but your expression now is worse that normal."

"Well," answered Koenma. "We do have a lot of problems." He sighed.

Masago didn't say anything. She was sitted on the wooden bench, embroidering. Koenma on the other hand was sprawled on the grass, inches away from the edge of the ravine. He was probably too preoccupied to notice the height of the cliff and was therefore unaffected.

"I shouldn't be asking this," Masago broke the silence, chewing on her lower lip. "Are my brothers in trouble?"

Koenma shrugged, irritated not at her inquiry, but at his own ignorance. "That's precisely the problem," he said. "We don't know.

"Darn! The situation is getting out of hand. At least, the odds are now better for the Makai army. Their number certainly is an asset. Still, it would be better if- aurghh! We have to find out how the hell those information leaked out."

Masago stopped working. "I guess, these weekly excursions really are a bother for you. We've been going out for nearly a mouth and they're still not satisfied. Still, it's good to relax once in a while, right?"

Koenma snorted. "The worlds are falling apart and you ask me to relax." Yet, something like a grin spread across his face.

"What is it?"

"You sound familiar."

"Huh?"

"A friend used to tell me that. Too often, if you ask me. In fact, she goes out to the extent of dragging me out off my office."

"Oh, my! Imagine doing that to the prince." She stood up, having fixed her things. "Don't you think we should go? I mean, we wouldn't want your people to think something is going on out here, do we?"

Koenma blushed mildly.

"No," Masago amended hastily. "I mean, they might take it as a sign that our resistance is weakening, that we'll give in to what they want."

"Oh." He recovered. "To tell you the truth, Miss Masago, I do like you very much. I think I'll grow in on you. What do you think? Will they fall for it?"

"Well, they'll want an heir…"

"Silly!" Koenma reddened again. "I mean, we can become friends and maybe keep up this charade until we can come up with an excuse to escape marriage but I don't think I'd ever want to get married to you."

"Well, neither do I." She quipped curtly. "I feel like you're my baby brother."

"Ha-ha, funny." He rolled his eyes. "See? This is one of the many things I didn't expect from you. I mean, on formal occasions you are so prim and proper I always thought you had steel running down your back. But alone with you bent double with laughter, I see that's quite impossible."

"I always thought you were an arrogant jerk who looks down on people. Jerk, maybe, but you're quite down to earth." Masago was thoughtful.

Koenma on the other hand was offended. "Funny, I thought the same about you. I was right about you being _vain_ though." Masago's eyes narrowed. "But my friend was right too. I was only prejudiced against you."

"My friend said some thing to that effect also. She warned me about how ornery and cantankerous you are but that it was only the effects of your being overworked."

"You know, I was so surprised when you yelled at me nearly a month ago. So you weren't really as docile as you appeared. Usually, my subjects cower before me, fulfilling my every wish. You certainly got my attention."

"Hmmm. I had help." Masago stared at him curiously, baiting him.

Koenma knew to pry right then and there. "From your friend? What does your friend say now?"

"Well, she said she knew you could be tamed once handled correctly." Masago smiled a little then became serious once again. "What does _your_ friend say?"

"My friend?" Sadness penetrated through his mask of cheerfulness. "I haven't spoken to her for a while now." He turned away. "Maybe she's mad at me since it was I who got her sent away."

At this Masago smiled slightly. "Not so. She's quite thankful you got her a better superior."

Koenma was taken aback at first but recovered quickly after the initial surprise. "And I thought you are humble, Yoshio Masago. I knew you'd volunteer the information sooner or later."

Masago sighed almost wistfully. "Botan's such a sweetie."

Koenma conjured a nasty expression. "Aha! So that's why you had her moved under you. You wanted to steal my therapist, huh?"

Masago looked surprised. "I did not. I didn't even know her then. In fact, I thought she requested reassignment because you are such a meanie."

"Then who was it who suggested to father to displace Botan?"

"I don't know. Why was she reassigned anyway?"

"For some miniscule excuse you wouldn't be interested in." Koenma brushed the question aside carelessly, giving himself away.

"Really?" It was her turn to wear a wicked grin.

Koenma groaned. "I knew you were gonna ask that! Didn't she tell you?"

"No."

"I'd rather not say it, ok?"

"Hmmm. Let me guess." Masago smirked. "Forbidden love?"

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you the truth!"

THE ANCIENT HALLS of Castle Styx is by no means one of the favorable places to go on a lone tour, especially if one has only recently arrived in the place and is not yet acquainted to its dangers. Of course, our ever naïve ferry girl had nowhere near her mind the necessary precautions one remembers when one is alone in some distant part of an unknown house. She prowled the walkways, gazing in wonder at the different sights the ancestral home offered, preserved by some magic from times long forgotten in the depths of the past.

Presently, she halted to stare at a collection of potions and instruments that create them. She peered through the blue liquid inside one of the queerly shaped vessel.

Blink. Blink.

"Ooooh!"

Through the translucent screen of the chemical, Botan sighted some hairy object concealed behind the mass of glassware. Intrigued, she reached for the thing lying behind one of the cordials.

"Ayieeeeeee-" She bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Nonetheless, she ran away blindly, arms flailing, eyes shut tight. She finally stopped when she bumped a pillar and ended up on the floor.

"Ouch…" she moaned, massaging her behind. "At least, it's a real pillar, not Mr. Personality."

She stood up shakily. She looked around casually, assessing the situation with calm. She is in what appeared to be a tunnel, lit by a single torch hitched to the wall. Each and every detail of her surrounding, miniature or otherwise, is definitely unfamiliar.

"Great," Botan said. "Just great. The nitwit Botan went exploring and got lost. Stupid rat."

Stupid rat, indeed. Botan's job is to attend to Miss Masago and since the latter's not around, the former was left with nothing to do. Botan grew bored and decided to wander around. Of course, she had meant to stay on the familiar parts, but then again, plans rarely are executed. At least, her mind is too slow on the uptake to realize that she should be afraid and thus she remained unfazed.

"Now what?" she ranted on. "How do I get out of this stupid place?"

She took the torch and thought about which way to go.

"Hmm… I'll just go this way," she finally decided, picking a direction randomly.

The stupid rat incident made her completely disoriented. She has no idea which way is back. She figured both ways had to end up somewhere anyway.

"Well, here goes," she sighed and started on her way.

It was about ten minutes of that winding and zigzagging tunnel. She was so relieved when she finally came upon something else.

"Wow," she said, as she entered the room. "This is like a cellar or something. It's pretty messy, though." She nearly tripped on something.

"Oops!" She clutched at the nearby chair. She bent over as soon as she regained her balance, shinning the light on the floor. "Marble? But it's wet."

She stretched her arms high over her head, letting the rays of firelight scatter all around the room.

"Hmmm…" She remarked to herself. "It looks like some sort of den."

There is a fireplace in one corner surrounded by cushioned chairs. It still emitted heat even though not even a paltry trace of fire was present in the dead embers. A tea table is in the center of the circle of seats, covered with some shiny stuff. All the other walls of the room were covered from floor to ceiling with shelves crammed with books.

She walked over to the table, peering at its contents inquisitively. She picked one, deftly handling it between her index finger and thumb as if it was some breakable crystal.

"They're flowers," Botan said, surprised. "So pretty! And unusual. I've never seen anything like it."

It's a strange flower all right. Perhaps, only a few other people have seen those flowers, too. Even if one had, it'll be very hard to describe it for the benefit of those who haven't. For starters, one can't find an exact color to match their shade. At one angle, it would be a normal yellow of a sunflower, next it may be an exotic metallic orange. The colors shift, changing dynamically as one investigates the blossom.

Its shape is quite impossible to describe as well. It's not that it's shapeless. Its form isn't dynamic at all either. There just no adjective fit to describe it. It's really plain indefinable.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take just one. I'd ask Miss Masago about it later," Botan said to herself. She pocketed her find as carefully as possible. "I'm rather tired. There should be a chair around here. Rather, there should be a lot of it."

As mentioned earlier, there are quite a number of chairs available, so she picked the one nearest to the table. However, barely had she been able to lean back against the backrest when something happened.

Suddenly, the light from the torch was snuffed out by some unseen creature, plunging the room to total darkness. Then, immediately after, Botan suddenly felt herself fall, fall into nothingness. Only now did she scream in panic. What happened was too sudden and her reaction was late. Soon, she was lost in the truth of her hopelessness and the darkness of her environment seeped into her being, as she unwillingly relinquished her hold on consciousness.

Notes: In case you haven't noticed my writing style seems unconventional. I don't know why myself. Perhaps it's the effects of the things I've previously read. My reading material preference is pretty broad so I guess all the different influences of all the writers jumbled together. Oh well. Ü¥ Anyway, please be tolerant of my grammar. Sorry. I guess I have to review all the stuff taught in elementary school. Whatever. I guess I'm having brain overload because of school. Can somebody tell me if I should use the past or present tense?

Review people! Pleeeeeeeaaaasssse!


	8. That's What I'm Telling You

**Disclaimer: Hmmm….. Do I have to say it again?**

**Eighth Chapter**

That's What I'm Telling You

BOTAN WAS VERY much confused when at last she came to. Her brain was filled with images of multicolored chemicals, vials of different shapes and sizes, big furry rats, long winding passages and tiny edible-looking jewelry. Then, in one fleeting moment, they merged into each other and fluttered away into the realm where forgotten memories are locked away.

She opened her eyes slowly, waiting for them to focus and for her vision to become clearer. She lay still, waiting for everything to fall into place. A little later, she was already steady enough, both physically and in thinking, to notice things about her.

She's in a clinic, or rather, _the_ clinic. The Castle Styx has it's own private clinic and this is it. She recognized it from the few times she visited her new pal, a fellow servant who went down with flu last week.

She scanned the whole place starting form the fluorescent lamp in the ceiling, down to the stainless white curtains that kept her privacy. Beside her are medical apparatuses and the basic things one sees in such places. Finally, she looked at herself, wrapped in the same white linen. In doing so, she noticed she was still fully dressed in her pink kimono, the one she once wore as her uniform as a spirit guide.

She stood up, hoisting herself into a sitting position, her legs dangling a few inches from the tiled floor. She leapt down, momentarily stunned by the coldness of the floor against her bare feet.

"Oh, Miss Ryo," she called, poking her head through the drapes.

Soon the round jolly old nurse came bounding in, rosy and energetic as usual. She fussed with Botan for a while then gave her something to eat. After the quick snack, the kind lady gave the girl her two-toed socks and sandals.

"You better go to Sir Ieyasu," she said finally. "It was he who found you."

Botan's mouth dropped open.

"Mr. Personality?" she muttered.

BOTAN STOOD BEFORE the heavy wooden door, hand positioned to knock, mouth slightly open, preparing to call out.

"Ah-" she started.

She suddenly turned away fists clenched, eyes screwed tight.

"No," she muttered through clenched teeth. "I can't do it."

She started tiptoeing away.

"Good. There you are."

Botan froze. She turned around timidly, bracing herself for the inevitable. There in front of her stood a tall man. She couldn't distinguish which of the Yoshio brothers it was. He was standing against the light coming from the interior of his office.

"Well?" said the soft almost crooning voice. "Come in."

Botan followed without another sound. She nearly slipped off the chair, the smooth cloth of her kimono being frictionless against the leather covering of the cushioned company chair. She sat quietly with her head bowed, her eyes following her master as he sat behind his table.

"And how are you, young lady?" Ieyasu started.

_Young lady_, thought Botan. _He can't be that much older than me. At least, he looks young, probably a few years older than Koenma-sama. Then again, we're all ageless anyway._

"Fine, sir," she tried to say calmly but her voice came out like a squeak.

Ieyasu chuckled coolly. "Miss Botan, it would do you much good if you ease up a bit. I don't bite, see?"

Botan tried to laugh along. She looked up but avoided Ieyasu's eyes.

"I'm alright, sir," she said. "I'm just confused, that's all."

"Don't worry," he drawled. "Nothing happened to you, kid."

_Kid?_ "What happened sir?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?"

"I don't remember sir." She lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Her memory was too blurry to make out.

"Well, a houseboy found you in near an abandoned privy in west wing. You must have fainted because of the smell."

"Excuse me?" Botan looked ready to puke.

"Just kidding." Ieyasu grinned evilly. "The guards found you unconscious around the eastern part of the mansion. You must have slipped and hit your head."

Botan realized he's right. She felt a rhythmic persistent throbbing at the back of her head. She only noticed it now because it's quite light. She felt her nape and came upon a swollen bump forming underneath the mass of hair.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Nothing more than a bruise, sir."

"Ah, all it needs is a little ice." He stood up, took his handkerchief from his pocket and walked to the fridge in a corner of the room.

"Oh, no sir. Don't bother really."

"Don't worry, kid. I haven't even used this." He took out some ice, wrapped it with the hanky and handed it to her. He went back to his seat, wiping his wet hands on a cloth en route.

"Thank you very much." Botan applied the compress to her injury slightly ashamed of the unmistakable dislike she felt towards her master. "I really am sorry for causing you much trouble, sir."

"The mansion is quite a maze you know. Even your mistress gets lost easily. I suggest you two go exploring on your free time but please don't wander alone."

"Yes, sir."

"Was the prince this lax to you?"

"Sir?"

"Does he let you run amok around the palace?"

"No, sir. There are quite a number of places restricted even to us ferry girls."

"Hmmm… You and your former boss were really close then, eh?"

Botan shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I did spend a lot of time with him, if that's what you mean, sir. He _was_ my boss."

"No. I mean, your relationship goes beyond that of the professional side."

"Well, yes, we are friends. We were much like the way Miss Masago and I are right now."

"Mmm…" Ieyasu nodded knowingly. "I see. You see it that way. You all do." He leaned back to his seat. "My sister does enjoy you company. Tell me, whose do you prefer?"

"Professionally? Well, I must confess I like working for the government better. See, I was trained to guide spirits and I guess even though the workload is much lighter here, I like it there better."

"Hmmm…"

"Don't get me wrong. I love Miss Masago. She's such a darling and as for your question a while ago, I prefer her for a boss, honestly."

"Why is that?"

Botan fidgeted again. "Well, Koenma-sama is usually severe. Don't you agree, sir?"

"True. But you do love Koenma as well, don't you?"

Botan was taken a back. "Well, I suppose so. I've grown genuinely fond of him as the years passed and I do love him like a brother."

"Are you sure he in turn loves you like a sister?"

Botan didn't say anything.

"One thing I'm sure of is that something is preventing him from at least trying to love my sister as a woman. Apparently, he gave Masago the place you claim to have, the place of a sister."

Botan was finally able to speak. "What are you driving at?"

"What does that make you?"

"A friend," Botan said simply.

"I'm sure that's what we all want to think, especially you. Of course, that would be denying the truth. You know as well as I do, you occupy his heart which is why he doesn't even attempt to woe Masago."

"What are you implying, sir? That it's my fault? I-"

Ieyasu held up his hand, signaling for silence. "No. Nobody can control what another feels. You are in a state of denial but that doesn't mean you don't return his affection. I think you'd agree with me. You know very well Koenma-sama's responsibilities. You know what would happen if you pursue your relationship. That's why you try to think of him as your brother, although you love him differently."

Botan's face was flushed. "I don't know where you got that idea, sir. But I assure you I am not the reason why both of them are rebelling against the customs. It's their decision."

"Yes. In fact, I have you to thank for talking my sister into cooperating. I know it's not your fault. You wouldn't have taught Masago how to handle the prince otherwise."

"I'm just trying to help my friends." Botan was on the verge of tears. She was caught in the center of being confused, scared and angry. "I'm not doing anything wrong. Besides, it's their business. I've nothing to do with it."

"Hmm…" Ieyasu stroked his chin. "You're right. It's their private lives. But Koenma-sama is the Prince of Reikai. His decisions affect the whole land. Reikai will be the one to pay for his mistakes."

Botan fumed in silence, head bowed.

"You may go," said Ieyasu. "Masago may come soon. If you don't believe me, ask her. Good evening."

With at that, he motioned for Botan to leave. He turned away from her, twisting the rotating chair to face the window. Botan left with out being prodded once more.

_Why do they think of me as the culprit_, she thought. _Even Keiko thinks the same way…_

What if it's true? What if Koenma really is in love with her? What if he insists on marrying her instead of Masago? What will happen then?

Before Botan's head can get any clearer, a voice called out from behind her.

"Botan?" it said. "Is that you?"

Botan spun around quickly, gazing warily at the newcomer. It was only Masago.

"Oh hello," she said, trying to hide her shakiness.

"Hi," greeted Masago. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just wandering around."

"Oh. You wouldn't mind going out into the veranda now, would you?"

"Of course not."

"Maybe we should get a jacket first or something."

"Sure. You're back so soon, Miss Masago."

"Yeah, well, Koenma-sama's pretty busy."

Botan turned away. "I see."

SOON ENOUGH, THE two girls were seated outside Masago's room in her balcony. Masago is seated on the silver chair, while Botan braided her hair.

"You shouldn't bother, Botan," said Masago presently. "It's too dark. You probably can't see a thing."

Botan pulled the rubber band from her own ponytail and used it to seal the pigtail of her mistress.

"There," she said. "All done."

Masago pivoted to look at Botan.

"Look at what you did," she said, seeing Botan's loose hair. "You ruined your hairdo!"

She stood up and shoved Botan to the seat. The latter protested, forcing her way to stand up.

"No," insisted Masago. "Be still an let me comb your hair. I've never done it before. I mean, on someone else's head."

She started running the brush through Botan's hair, letting stoke after stroke gently travel across the waves. Botan didn't bother to resist anymore.

"Miss Masago," she murmured. "You're too kind, really. You make me feel guilty."

"Why is that, dear?" asked Masago, surprised.

"Hmmm…"

Silence followed. Botan watched as the last traces of the sun disappeared and evening settled in. Masago, however, continued her labor of love. Botan relaxed gradually as the teeth of the brush massaged her aching head.

It was Masago who broke the silence a little while later.

"Um," she started. "Koenma asked about you."

Botan's heart leapt to her throat upon hearing of the controversial name. Her relaxed nature retreated to its shell, replaced by a jittery and agitated one. However, she forced herself to remain in control and to let no reaction register on her countenance.

"Really?" she managed to say almost haughtily. "He still remembers me?" She laughed nervously.

"Yes. Truly," answered Masago. She was surprised by her friend's unaffectedness. However, she also felt Botan stiffen earlier when Koenma's name was mentioned. _Is it jealousy_, Masago wondered.

You two went to Falcon Ridge, right? Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes. It was divine. The view is so breathtaking and awesome. You ought to come with us the next time."

"Nah. I'd probably just get on your way."

Masago snorted. "You know very well our relationship is nowhere near romantic. In fact, I've taken to calling him big brother."

Botan drew in air sharply. However, she spoke before Masago could react. "You would have to stop that once you two get hitched. You can't call your husband big brother. Or your beau for that matter."

"Beau? It's almost like I'm the suitor and not him." She chuckled. "But I like it," she said decidedly. "Besides, I told you I'm not marrying him."

"I sympathize with you, madam, but you have no other choice."

"I'm serious," replied Masago astutely. Botan gasped. "I'm not marrying him."

"Why not?" Botan felt like fainting but managed to convey the inquiry nonetheless. "That's not for you to decide."

"Isn't?" Masago's voice had a rather sharp edge to it. "It's my life, is it not?"

Botan took a few moments to recover. "But you used to be at least open to the idea. I mean, why the sudden change of heart?"

"Yes. Since we were getting along alright, I thought then that maybe we can learn to become husband and wife. But then I realized that there might come a day when either one of us will find the person we truly love. It will only cause unnecessary pain for both of us, and for the kingdom, trouble."

"I see," said Botan meekly.

"Besides…"

Botan perked up slightly in dread.

"… Koenma-sama already found his."

Silence. Masago immediately turned to Botan to see her reaction. She was shocked by the girl's expression. Sure, she expected a guilty blush but Botan's face was plain frightful. It wasn't one that intimidates, but one that makes a person worried and concerned.

Botan was pale and motionless, her eyes wide open and staring. It was already dark and Masago was straining to see. Nonetheless, she saw how tightly Botan clutched at her dress, her knuckles white and shaking.

"Botan?" Masago asked tactfully. "Is there something wrong?"

The ordinarily cheerful young woman, however, heard nothing of her mistress inquiry. All she heard was the voice of Yoshio Ieyasu's creepy yet somewhat soothing croon, chanting repeatedly.

_Reikai will pay…_

_Reikai will pay for you crimes._

_…will pay for your crimes._

_… your crimes._

_CRIMES_

"Miss Masago!"

Masago nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise. She stood still where she was, watching carefully and fearfully.

Botan flung herself on the floor before Masago. The latter flinched as her friend's hand touched hers accidentally. It was deathly cold , wet and clammy.

"Botan?" Masago managed to blurt out.

"Requesting permission to obtain my accumulated leave," she yelled, head bowed.

"Well, yes, of course-"

"Thank you very much, mistress."

With that, her oar materialized and off she flew.

Masago watched as her only real friend disappeared in the horizon.

"Botan…"

Any complaints? Suggestions? Anything? Tell me! Please…..


	9. Confidante

**Disclaimer: YYH is not my property. I'm just borrowing. Don't sue coz I'm only a kid and I'm not earning anything yet.**

**Ninth Chapter**

Confidante

IN DOWNTOWN TOKYO, a ramen shop was bustling with activity as the busiest hour of the evening came. Inside, the owner's wife directed the workers as they struggled to satisfy everyone in the chaos. The manger-in-training was herself tangled in the melee and Keiko, her employer, is trying to sort out the madness.

"Hey, there!" greeted Keiko. "A table for four? There near the counter, please. A table for three, there in the corner. All done? Angel, I'm leaving you in charge for a while."

"Yes, ma'am," replied the harried girl.

Keiko dodged the various people rushing about and managed to escape to the outside via the backdoor.

"Whew!" she sighed. "Sundays are so busy. And where on earth is that Yusuke?""

She stood still for a while, observing the park overlooked by their shop. It is _their_ shop, the product of sweat, tears, blood and hard labor. That's so nice to hear.

"Hmmm…" Keiko murmured, hugging herself as a strong breeze blew at her. "Chilly."

She put on the cardigan she was carrying and was about to walk away for her customary walk en route home. Before she could move a few paces, however, she caught something from the corner of her eye.

Keiko frowned. "It couldn't be her," she muttered. "She said she's too busy for a visit just yesterday."

BOTAN SWERVED HARD, ignoring the indignant squawking of the migratory birds as she zoomed past them, missing the feathered creatures by mere millimeters. Then, she gave her oar a viscous jerk, sending her plummeting, nose first, to the ground below in a near ninety degrees angle and the same warp speed. Had you been quick enough to see her, you would have seen her clutching tightly onto the piece of wood. But it wasn't for dear life she hung on, as one might expect. It was for support. Emotional support that is.

Of course, she wasn't aware of the speed of her descent. Perhaps, she wasn't even navigating at all. Her limbs did everything automatically, leading her through the route soaked with familiarity. If only she could remember where it was bound to go! Now, all she can think of was herself, her crimes and the fact that she may bring trouble to the Yoshio clan and the whole of Reikai, and of course… Koenma.

She reached the earth safely. She rolled off her oar, falling in front of Keiko. The latter immediately had her arms around Botan.

"Botan?" she asked urgently. "What's wrong? Tell me!"

Botan just stared into space, face expressionless.

"What is it, darling?" Keiko rubbed Botan's back, her voice rising in concern. "Did somebody hurt you? Did Koenma scold you or something?"

Upon hearing the name, Botan snapped. She totally lost control over her emotions. Her whole body shuddering, the tears spouted from her eyes and words rushed from her mouth incoherently.

"K-k-k-Keiko…" she stammered. "Koenma-sama… Mistress Masago… downfall of Reikai…"

Keiko gathered Botan in an embrace and gave her a squeeze.

"I'm sorry, girl," she said soothingly. "I can't make out anything. Why don't we go to the house and we'll talk, ok? I have some of those Swiss hot chocolate you're so addicted to. We can have it with marshmallows and roasted nuts. What do you say?"

SOMETIME LATER, THE two girls sat in the Urameshi kitchen. Botan had a steaming half-filled mug of hot chocolate in front of her. Keiko sat beside her, cracking nuts and popping them in her mouth.

Keiko took a sip from her mug as Botan summed up her story. She told her best friend everything. No, not everything. Botan mentioned nothing of the freak accident.

For a while, Keiko just looked at her in silence. Botan squirmed uncomfortably under her scrutiny. "Keiko, I-" she said.

"Ah, sorry," said Keiko. She cleared her throat a few times. "You know if I was Yusuke, I'd say you're overreacting-" Botan opened her mouth to protest, feeling a little betrayed. "-But I'm not." Botan closed her mouth. "Anyway, so what your saying is, you're in love with him and he's in love with you, which is why Masago doesn't want to marry him?"

Botan shook her head desperately. "I'm not sure about his feelings," she said. "And mine's none to clear either."

"I think I'm a little confused."

"Everybody said so!"

"Everybody?"

"Well, Miss Masago and Sir Ieyasu did. I didn't want to believe it but…"

"And they're blaming you for the failed match?"  
"No. Come to think of it, not really." Botan paused.

"And?" Keiko continued cracking nuts, waiting patiently for her friend to finish.

"Sir Ieyasu only said I should distance myself from Koenma-sama because our friendship might interfere with his relationship with Miss Masago."

"What about Masago?"

"Well, she told me that Koenma-sama is in love with someone else and that she didn't want to compete with that."

Understanding slowly filtered into Keiko's brain. "I see. So you just assumed she's referring to you."

Botan reddened, eyes panic-stricken. "B-b-but…"

"I understand. You've been under much influence of Ieyasu's words so you panicked."

Botan felt foolish. "I…"

"I know what your problem is. It's guilt. You know Koenma's and Masago's rebellion will cause trouble. You're blaming yourself for putting those thoughts into their heads."

"But it's true!"

Keiko pouted chidingly. "You really are foolish, Botan." Then in a much gentler tone, she started admonishing the spirit guide-turned-lady-in-waiting.

"Listen," she stated. "You know Koenma much better than I do. Will you describe him for me?"

A lone tear slipped down Botan's nose.

"Ok," she said, sniffling. "To most people, he's clumsy, awkward, childish. But that's not all he is. Everybody thinks he cowers before his father, but he doesn't always. He follows orders as respect for authority but not when he believes his father is in the wrong. How could he handle all his work? How could he manage to run Reikai? How could he protect Ningenkai if he really is that weak?

"No. Koenma-sama has a mean streak, too." A trace of a smile appeared on Botan's face. "He probably inherited it from Enma-sama. He can be cunning like his father and almost always as gruff and as touchy. He's stubborn, righteous and-"

"And he doesn't let other people curb his way of thinking," finished Keiko. "So you see, Botan, you couldn't have made him think differently even if you wanted to. Anyway, what about your mistress? She never loved Koenma from the beginning, right?"

Botan shook her head. "Miss Masago has no romantic feelings towards Koenma-sama. Still, she was open to the idea of her betrothal to him. She only changed when I came. See? If it was only Koenma-sama who refused, everyone would attribute it to his rebellious nature. Since Miss Masago is resisting, too, people would blame her. I would be the cause of the Yoshio clan's downfall from power!"

"But she's right, Botan. It is her life. They have no right to control her, to live her life for her. You helped her fix things with Koenma. Because of that, she was able to assess the situation and was able to decide for herself. You didn't fill her up with lies or even radical ideas. You just let her be. It's her own decision."

Botan had her head down; her fingers still clasping the warm mug and letting its heat comfort her. She realized that she already knew everything Keiko had told her only that she needed someone else to tell it to her. However, she's still a bit confused.

"You know there's something good your confusion has brought you," remarked Keiko, breaking the silence.

"What?" asked Botan doubtfully.

Keiko grimaced, seemingly in distaste. "Do I have to tell you everything?"

Botan sighed. "Just tell me."

"Do you love him or not?"

"What!" Botan was incredulous.

"It's a simple question. I'm sure even you can answer that. Do you love him or not?"  
"That's prepos- You understand."

"I want to hear it from you. I'm not perfect, Botan. I want to make sure my inference is correct."

Botan shut her eyes for a while, pondering. _Do I love him_, she asked herself. _All those times I got mad seeing him overworked, all those times I got ecstatic whenever he allows himself little rest, was it love?_ All those times she saw him everywhere and was reminded of him by everything, was it yearning? And that quirk in her heart when he first announced his betrothal, and that wistfulness she felt whenever Miss Masago goes out with him or even mentions his name, was it jealousy?

_I don't know, I don't know!_ screamed her inner voice.

"Idiot," admonished Keiko suddenly, cutting through her reverie. "Don't think about it, you simpleton. If I had used my brain then I wouldn't have married that Yusuke. Use this." The brunette pounded her chest with force and conviction, her brown eyes flashing meaningfully.

_Follow the heart…_ thought Botan. She closed her eyes again, this time relaxing in the darkness, letting whatever it is inside her to emerge.

First, she saw an infant, or toddler rather, yelling at her, ordering her around. He was wearing his usual garbs, the oversized hat, pacifier and all. There's the ever-conspicuous Jr on his forehead.

The usually crinkled eyes opened and he was no longer a babe but a young man standing before her, his brown hair flying freely with the wind. His long mysterious golden brown eyes probed her pink ones deeply, seemingly seeing right into the bareness of her soul.

Then it was no longer just seeing him but also feeling him, smelling him, and hearing him, all of her senses alive and active.

She can hear him clearly. Now she heard the angry bawling of a kid. The next moment, it was engulfed by the clear authoritive voice of one who has just stepped out of adolescence, now in scolding, now in laughter, then in sadness.

His familiar smell overpowered her. First, the mild fragrance of the baby powder wafted. Next, it was defeated by the striking scent of his eau de toilette enveloping her with a sudden wave of desires.

Finally, she felt him. The soft caress of his breath tickling her ear, the reluctant awkward but gentle way he touches her and the simple gesture of friendliness as he pulled her ponytail gleefully. She felt his aura surround her. The familiarity comforted her, warmed her, and made her be herself to the fullest.

Botan smiled. Now she knows. And knowing gave her a liberated feeling. She felt suddenly free and a tranquil serenity settled with in her.

She slowly opened her eyes. Then, in a barely audible voice, she answered, "Yes."

Keiko smiled. "So now what are you going to do?"

Botan blinked. "I wait for Yusuke to ask permission to stay here in the meantime."

Keiko felt as if a whale just levitated out of the sea and fell down on her.

"Here we go again," she moaned. "Botan, Botan, the next step is to profess to him that you return his feelings."

"But I'm not sure about his feelings."

"That's why you find out if your feelings are mutual."

"But…" Botan smiled to herself. "I don't care if it is or not. All I want is for him to be happy, safe, successful and for everything to be fine."

Keiko groaned again. "I don't believe this," she muttered. "Silly! If you just leave them with out telling them why, they'll never understand. They'd probably both cause a clamor in the kingdom anyway. Besides, he'll probably get depressed and be sad all his life."

"That's true…" said Botan reluctantly. "But what if you're wrong?"  
"Then, my friend, you can go back to your original plan."

"Ok, then. I daresay it's time for Miss Masago's bath anyway. All the same, save the spare room for me, ok?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary." Keiko beamed at her encouragingly.

"See you then."

"Bye."

"And Keiko?"

"What?"

"Thanks."

"Anytime. I have lots of hot chocolate here for you. Both for your stomach and your heart."

JUST AS KEIKO finished washing the dishes, an urgent knocking was heard on the door. She wiped her hand and rushed to it.

"Coming," she said loudly.

She opened the door after peeping to see who it was. In barge Yusuke, followed by Kurama, who greeted her absentmindedly, and Hiei, who merely nodded in acknowledgement.

"Where's Botan?" asked her husband. "Angel said she was with you a while ago."

"Oh, you just missed her," said Keiko. "She already left."

"Darn it!" exclaimed Yusuke in frustration.

Hiei's ever present scowl deepened and Kurama shook his head as if to say "no good".

"Is there something wrong?" Keiko felt her skin prickle.

"Should we tell her?" checked Yusuke.

Hiei only grunted in reply.

"Well," said Kurama. "She does have a right to know."

"Ok," sighed Yusuke. "Makai had been experiencing problems and they had asked for my help."

"Just now?" Keiko asked almost worriedly.

"Actually, since last month…"

Keiko was about to open her mouth.

"You can scold me later." Yusuke cut her off. "Right now, listen. A small-scale rebellion has been terrorizing Makai. They're not that formidable compared to the main bulk of the Makai army and defense sector but they have ample information to disable the government.

"Now, the real problem is that if the militant groups manages to take over Makai, anarchy and chaos will once again reign there. Security will once again disappear between the three worlds and powerful beings will once again be freed to cause trouble here in Ningenkai.

"Besides," Yusuke paused, looking somber, his voice becoming softer. "I helped create order in that place, my ancestors' home. I can't just watch and let it fall to pieces."

"Was it the ruler of Makai who asked for your help?" asked Keiko.

"Yeah," answered Kurama. "But Koenma asked for our assistance, too."

"What does he have to do with this?"

"Remember, Keiko. It's Reikai's job to ensure peace between the worlds. Also, they're involved in this even more deeply.

"It seems the information the rebels have came from Reikai. They're suspecting an inside job. Reikai forces are trying to find out the truth and trace the real traitor.

"Hiei, who also works for the Makai information agency, is also in this case, trying to clear the name of his sect. They've found a new lead."

"So you wish for Botan to relay this information to Koenma? But she no longer works for him."

"Even so, everything revolves around her," spoke up the ever-grim Hiei.

"Yes," said Yusuke. "Which is why we must call her back."

"But why?" asked Keiko in disbelief, still confused. "You don't mean to say…"

"She may be in grave danger."

Masago studied the assortment of knobs on the bathroom wall. After a long time of mussing with the controls of the water temperature, she has finally attained the desired heat. Now, she is faced by the dilemma of how to stop the water from draining away in the bathtub.

"I'll try this one," she said, reaching out from her position at the side of the bathtub. Instead of clogging the drainage however, the switch shifted the water flow from the faucet into the shower, thus bestowing a premature wetting on the confused girl.

"Sheesh!" After fumbling with a few more knobs, she finally succeeded in plugging the tub's drainage. "I really should watch them do this next time."

She peeled off her wet clothes and slipped into a bathrobe. Next, she puzzled over the mass of liquid soaps, oils and perfumes in the tub side. Which of them should she use? Shrugging coolly, she dumped them all unceremoniously into the churning water. Satisfied, she entered the water.

"Now what?" she murmured. Realizing she had forgotten about her sponge, she attempted to rise. However, the stuff she mixed into her bath was excessively much, causing the bubbles to rise and overflow all over the place. Groping in panic as she disappeared behind the mass of bubbles, she managed to rise and step out of the tub. Clutching her bathrobe to her dripping body, she started walking to the luffa hanging behind the bathroom door. Or at least tried…

"Whoa! Easy- Yikes! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

THUD.

The scream was heard all through out the mansion. Practically everyone, ladies-in-waiting, maids- and of course, _guards_, rushed to where the mistress of the house resided and forced the door open.

"Masago-sama!" they yelled in unison. "Are you alright?"

Masago screamed again, hastily donning the robe she was holding, despite the fact she was sprawled on the soap covered floor. Fortunately, the blanket of bubbles hid her naked body from view.

"I'm fine," she choked out. "Just _please_ get OUT!"

After the red-faced crowd hastened out of her apartment, Masago shakily stood from the tiled floor.

"Owww…" she moaned, her hands rubbing her hips. "I didn't think it would be this hard."

Indeed, for an average person, it isn't half as hard as all that. Poor girl! After decades of being waited on hand and foot, it's not surprising she's fumbling around. She has tried to do other things by herself but taking a luxurious bath she's accustomed to sure wasn't one of them.

She gave up and instead went out to her bedroom. She sat down on her bed glumly.

"I wish Botan was here," she said.

"Your wish is my command."

Notes:

Wah! I blew it! Botan's realization of her feeling for Koenma was dumb. Wah! I read lots of books and stories covering a wide variety of topics but not too much of romance. I guess it shows, huh?

Alright, whatever it is you hate about it tell me. I won't get mad or anything. I'm begging!

TT What can I do to improve this thing?


	10. Women:Past & Present

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

**Tenth Chapter**

Woman: Past and Present

YEP. THERE HE goes again. He's reading the diary of a queen, probably long dead. What is he thinking? That's prying someone else's private life! Then again, he is the Prince of Reikai.

March 27th

Today is my cousin's birthday. You didn't know that, did you? Of course not. I haven't written for a while now.

See, I've been staying with my cousins Nikola and Nereen. One of my suitcases has been delayed in arrival. Luckily, it came early this morning, before Nikola's party. My gala attires are there and also this diary.

Honestly, I've been waiting for my diary earnestly since yesterday. I wanted to have somewhere to organize my thoughts. I'm very much confused and out of sorts, I'm afraid. I guess Nikola's and Nereen's talks have their corresponding effects.

Don't get me wrong. I love those two madcap girls. We've been chums since time immemorial. Of course, just because they're sisters doesn't mean they think the same way. Nikola is the sort who goes with the flow. Nereen is the wild one. She loves to break out of the mold and tries to establish new things. I guess it's on account of this they confuse me.

Remember I told you the people don't know about my husband and Catalina Yoshio-

Yoshio? She must be Masago's ancestor or something.

husband and Catalina Yoshio? Well the "people" meant the ordinary folks. Among the nobility, at least in varying degrees, it's a known fact. And of course, the Chenille sisters know about it.

Nikola and Nereen are two of my best chums. We grew up together. We know each other like one knows the back of one's hand. We tell each other everything. They're both married, too, living in different estates. In fact, I only call them the Chenille sisters for old times sake. Now, Nereen and Nikola are both members of respected clans of our class.

As I said, each of them has their own opinion concerning my problem. Nikola said my marriage was normal enough and that I was lucky. Nereen said it was destroying me.

Right now, I'm more inclined to agree with Nikola's thinking. In this world, men are gods and women are the servants. What more of me, the wife of the king? I am a mere property of my lord. I have no right to contest his will or actions. Besides, it is not uncommon for a man to have concubines. There was even a time when it was legal.

Nereen grew angry when I said this. She said I was being treated like scum by that _animal_ (yes, she has _that_ much spunk to call His Majesty that. I must admit I grimaced then). She said I should speak out and fight for my right.

At this moment, I simply don't know.

Maybe I should ponder over this some other time. I really must go. See, I just stole some time to write here. The party is still going on and I'm being called downstairs.

No, my husband's not here. He's back at the palace, working his head off. Work? Pooh! If I know, he's probably lounging in the arms of Catalina.

Hmmm… There I go again thinking like Nereen. I should leave it alone for now. Then, I'll pry it open again and next time think over it well.

April 3

Today, I had been invited for tea at the Castle Styx. That's right, the Yoshio mansion. Mr. Yoshio has always been a loyal subject and is a close friend of His Highness.

It was a difficult day. Until now, my jaw aches as I forced myself to keep the eternal smile on my face. Of course, I had to act pleasant. I am the queen after all.

I am not really a nasty person by nature. However, sitting across the mistress of your spouse and being nice is quite a challenge. By the time the Yoshios saw us to the door, my chin was already quivering from the strain.

You must be wondering why my husband took me along. I mean, anything could have happened. I could have shouted, "Hey, Mr. Yoshio! Your wife and my husband are having an affair but there's nothing we can do because he's the king." But then, he knew I wouldn't do it. I couldn't.

Maybe you're thinking I hate this woman, that I despise her. No. Sometimes I feel bitter. Sometimes I even have unkind thoughts about her but I suppose it's just because of my offended pride. I mean, even if I don't have feelings for the king, I still have a right to feel possessive, right? I don't know. Nevertheless, I'm sure it's not hatred. Whenever I think some comment about them, it's just whistling in the dark.

I think it's my husband's fault. He had to let it get to this stage. He had to be forced to marry me. If only he had fought for his love, this wouldn't have happened.

Besides, maybe Catalina is choiceless. I mean, if the ruler of all Reikai wants you, perhaps you can do nothing against him. I know how things work in Reikai.

Then again, when I look at her, I know she loves him, too. She's suffering from her marriage like me. I see it in her eyes. She looks at his Highness with such longing… and pain. I almost pity her. But then, I remember the child in my womb.

I cannot afford to give her sympathy.

April 9

Poor Nereen!

I just received a message from her. She's having marital troubles. She accidentally uncovered her husband's extramarital affair with a wench and a big scandal erupted though out the nobility of Reikai.

I guess I'm not the only one having problems. Many people suffer from their fixed marriages. Marrying for love has always been look down on. It is foolish and leads to the downfall of many great clans.

Nereen is in trouble. They blamed her for what happened. They say she has been a bad wife that's why her husband searched for another woman. Because she, a noblewoman, wasn't good enough.

Now, as I ask Providence to keep Nereen safe, I ask myself: am I a bad wife? Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe my efforts for this marriage to work out are too half-hearted. Maybe it's not enough.

But how can that be? I've sacrificed a lot for this to work out; my freedom, my self-esteem, my identity, my chance to find true love and happiness, even myself, are all gone. And it's all for my country, my people, and my family.

Sometimes I think it has all been in vain, that I have lived a tiny life. But then, I'd happen to look upon my burgeoning belly and be comforted.

April 21

Remember that I told you that it is he who should be hated and not Catalina? And yet, I really can't hate him even if I try to with all my heart and soul. He's just too… pitiful.

Until now, I still wonder how we managed to reproduce. He's forever faithful to Catalina, the love of his life. He finally did his job when pressured to produce an heir. But I know it is her he envisioned in the dark. I only did what I was taught. It was the only instance we united as man and wife but once was enough it seems.

It's so heart wrenching, everything that's happening. I never did crave his love at all. I am saddened by the fact, though, that I am only a substitute. I am angry that all of us are in pain. And it's all because we were all too weak to go against the flow of the system.

Perhaps I haven't been a bad wife at all. Perhaps, Kumagai hasn't been a bad husband either to Catalina. He and I are just weak. We are all weak.

Stupid traditions. Stupid customs. Stupid everything. If only I had somehow ordered him to marry Catalina instead of me. If only I had the strength to say no to both my father and the then king of Reikai. If only…

Oh well, regret is a worthless emotion. I must look to the future, the future of the baby.

But I shall never forgot how once the king of Reikai rose from his sleep in the middle of the night, half consciously examined me and then moaned tearfully.

"Catalina, these sins we are committing is haunting me…"

IT WAS EVENING, half-past seven. The young night was filled with numerous lights, flooding the palace with brightness for miles around. The music gave pleasure to every ear, even floating to those who are not lucky enough to be invited, like this peasant walking home from the fields. He cocked his head to one side and listened.

"Ah," he remarked. "There's another party in the Yoshio mansion."

Castle Styx has stood for millennia and had witnessed (and survived) countless parties. This one was really no different from the others. Same families, but different generation of bluebloods; same exotic transportation aimed to give its owner the fanciest entrance, and of course, same smiling faces and sometimes hearts bleeding with some unsaid hurt.

More or less, people have fun at these gatherings, even if it is but for a short while. After all, one of the most irresistible pleasures of a person, human or not, is free food. And tables are overflowing with it baby! Yeah! And there's also the socializing and simply gossiping.

A bored person may simply amuse himself by watching the dance floor. You'd see some pretty interesting things out there. Like, you'll discover that ducks can dance after all. In a manner of speaking.

There is a person, however, who cannot be entertained by anything at all. The worse thing about it is that he's the most distinguished of all the people present in the party. That's why Yoshio Kumagai was practically panicking in his plight. He has to find a way to amuse the guest of honor.

Masago, radiant and gorgeous as usual, was busy chatting with her chums. Kumagai bumped to her accidentally.

"Oh, papa," she said. "I'm sorry."

"Quite alright," mumbled the old man.

Sensing her father's agitation, Masago said, "What is it, papa? Is there anything wrong?"

Kumagai shot her a look and an idea struck. "Oh, yes," he said. "That's right. You're the hostess. Go entertain your fiancé."

Masago looked puzzled for a while. "Oh, the prince. Sure, pa. I'll handle him."

She walked away, ignoring the hooting of her friends.

"Koenma-sama?" she called when she finally found him in the balcony. "Is there something wrong, sir?"

Koenma turned around. "Ah, it's the birthday girl," he said. "Sorry. I'm such a lousy guest."

"No harm done, sir." Masago went to the prince. "Except for my father that it is. He's pretty shaken up."

"Poor Kumagai."

"What's up, anyway?"

"Well, there's this book."

"A book?"

"Actually, a diary."

"You're reading someone's diary!"

"It's alright, I think. The owner's probably dead anyway."

Masago continued staring at him, shocked. "I can't believe you said that. Then again, you are the prince of Reikai. So what happened? Did your conscience get you?"

"You can put it that way."

"Good. Then you aren't as hopeless as I thought."

"She seems to be a queen from long ago. Her life was pretty pitiful. I guess it is true women had few rights back then."

"Yes. Fairness was actually established a few generations before ours but people does take time to get used to things."

"It's painful to think our mothers could have been mistreated, too."

"Oh, yes. Mama…"

Koenma was compelled to look at Masago upon hearing the melancholic edge in her voice. He was shocked by what he saw.

"Hey, get down from there!" he yelled angrily.

Without him noticing, Masago had hoisted herself up on the marble parapet of the balcony. Her seat is quite thick and there is little chance of her falling off. However, it's still shocking seeing a beautiful woman in a floor length gown in that position.

"Relax," she said. "Nobody would see me. Besides, I do this quite often. Well, when there's no one around to notice me."

"Suit yourself," muttered Koenma. "At least, I don't have to marry you if you're dead."

"Very funny."

"Let's just walk around, if you don't mind. Give me a tour."

"Fine. It is a nice night to get lost." Masago slipped off her seat.

"What, you prefer to dance? Those shoes look mighty expensive to me." He gestured to the shoes peeping from under her dark green dress.

"You can afford hundreds of shoes to replace these. Still, I wouldn't want to limp around with sore feet all night, would I, o clumsy one?"

"I'm not that bad a dancer." They began strolling in the winding halls. These passages lead through various areas in that part of the mansion but they're all continuous with the ballroom.

"Hey Koenma, do you miss your mother?"

"Why the question?"

"You're the one who had me starting to think about her."

"Well, I don't remember her at all." His voice was cool and a little curt.

"I miss mine very much." Masago's voice was very soft.

Koenma dropped his aloof tone. "I'd probably miss mine, too, if I had known her. Father never talks about her. At least, you have some memory of yours."

"Is that so? How sad."

"What's her maiden name? Both of our families are involved in the diary's account."

"Grey. Catalina Grey Yoshio."

"Sounds familiar. I guess it's because the Greys are an ancient clan like ours."

"Probably. Sometimes, I can't help but think that if she's still alive, she won't force me to marry you."

"Yeah. If mine was here, too, I won't be forced either. And neither will I be overworked." He grinned balefully.

"The more I think about it, the more I realize I shouldn't be marrying you. But I'm reminded of the futility of contention. It is impossible to oppose _them_."

"I know. That's why I use a happy medium and just joke about it."

"She's not there," Masago suddenly said in exasperation as Koenma peeked behind the twentieth door.

Koenma became defensive. "Don't start again, Masago. There's nothing between us."

"I didn't say anything about Botan. " Masago grinned. "I said my mother's dead so she couldn't possibly be in there. You're blushing."

The prince stuck his tongue out at her. "Double crosser."

"Let's see if you can still say that when you see her," muttered Masago.

"What?"

"Nothing."

By now, they were inside the ballroom again and the hostess found herself dragged beside the buffet table. Koenma was practically inhaling the caviar. Masago gingerly scooped some jellyfish into her plate. But then, her attention was caught by someone at the main entrance, as was everybody's. Excepting, of course, Koenma.

Masago nudged him.

"Momp moha me," he grumbled, stuffing some more of the eggs into his mouth. But he looked up anyway and was astounded by what he saw.

Is that really the deity of death?

Note: See how much Amy Tan's Kitchen God's Wife affected me? That's a great novel.

And this is gonna be embarrassing. Grrr… One of the hardest things in writing is trying to find a name. Sorry if you think the names I use are lousy. I usually just open a book and get a name somewhere. By the way, Masago, Yoshio, Kumagai, Atsumori, and Ieyasu are names I took from my Asian lit book. (Sounds familiar, Seiyo?) I don't know the meanings or stuff like that. Whenever I need a Japanese name, I usually refer to history books and my Asian lit book, which I don't have anymore since I returned it to the school. And Nereen and Nikola are my cousins' names. I couldn't think of anything else so I just changed the spelling. Ho-hum…

Tell me whatever you want. Be it good or bad, I'll accept it with a straight face.

Feedbacks and reviews!


	11. A Cinderella Story Minus the Slipper

(May 3, 2005 - In compliance with FFnet's ruling about songfics, I am removing the lyrics of "Last Night of The World" from the Broadway show _Miss Saigon_ from this chapter. It's really too bad because I happen to like the integration of the song in this chapter. T.T Here's a link to the songfic version, if you prefer to read that. Just replace the spaces with dotsthe appropriate things. www DOT geocities DOT com SLASH woe2acheron SLASH s11 DOT html )

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing. Don't sue.**

**Eleventh Chapter**

A Cinderella Story minus the Slipper

BOTAN'S HEART GALLOPED wildly as she stepped into the hall. Damn, she has never felt so nervous in her life. She straightened herself, smoothened her gown and sighed resignedly.

"Here goes nothing," she murmured and started walking towards the giant glass doors. However, before she reached even a foot away, Botan stopped and spun around, her fists and jaws clenched tight.

"I can't do it,"" she moaned. "I can't believe Miss Masago talked me into this."

Actually, Masago didn't just talk her into it. It happened a while ago, barely an hour before the start of the celebration. The make-up artist just finished giving Masago her makeover. She was still in her bathrobe though, so that her emerald studded forest green velvet dress won't be damaged.

Botan was summoned. The poor girl went up to her mistress's chamber unsuspectingly, expecting to help Masago into her fine raiment and to have the first look at the personification of heavenly beauty.

"Good evening, Miss Masago." Botan greeted brightly as poked her head into the doorway. "What's next?"

"Come in, my pretty. Come in," Masago said mysteriously.

"So will I help you dress now?" Botan had been excited then but Masago only smiled to herself ominously.

Botan should have known then that something bad was about to happen. She should have sensed trouble and should have bolted out the door. But noooo. She didn't catch on quickly enough and now she's languishing inside the char muse rose colored gown.

She managed to detach herself from Masago earlier when the guests started pouring in. She has been snooping around the hallways for the last hour, trying to find the perfect time to slip in. She thought, using her ever-unorthodox way of thinking, she wouldn't be noticed if she went in late.

"Aurghh!" she groaned. "I don't care, I don't care!"

She started walking away briskly. No, she wouldn't be blackmailed into going to a friend's party. The only reason she didn't try to escape was she didn't want to disrespect the hostess. Alright, also because Masago threatened to have her escorted (a.k.a. dragged) in with criers and bodyguards.

"I don't care," she repeated, stomping away.

"Miss?" asked a voice behind her.

Botan stifled a scream. She turned around slowly.

"Yes?" she squeaked.

"Miss Botan, I presume," said one of the tuxedo-garbed men.

She nodded.

"We are your entourage."

IT WAS A woman, that's for sure. Her tresses, light blue and long, was plaited and piled on her crown, the curling tendrils framing her beautiful face. The sheer chiffon gown, which had no sleeves, a deep neckline, and an a-line cut, reached the floor, pooling around her feet. From her back sprouted translucent white wings of some flimsy material, which glinted with every movement she made.

Koenma's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Who is _that_?" he asked.

"What are you doing?" hissed Masago in his ear. "Go escort the lady _before_ someone else does."

"What?" Koenma demanded in confusion.

Masago gave him one last frown as she glided away, intercepting several young man as they rushed to escort the lady down the staircase, leading from the entrance. As a result, he got to her first.

"Well," he said gruffly, avoiding her eyes. He offered Botan his hand. "Shall we?"

Botan timidly took it, evading his look as well. _Miss Masago, how can you do this to me,_ she ranted inwardly. _I swear I'd get you for this!_

Koenma felt his partner tense up. Well, he's tense, too. He looked at her as they descended the marble stairway, practically melting from the spectators' eyes glued on them.

"Hey," he said. "I bet Masago got you, too."

Botan glanced up, surprised. "Yeah," she said smiling. "It sure sucks."

"I resent that," said Koenma indignantly. "I'm not that bad looking."

They laughed. They grinned at each other as they mingled with the rest of the guests, now distracted by some scheme, probably planned by Yoshio Masago the matchmaker. Now that the ice has been broken, things seem back to normal.

"I'm hungry," announced Koenma.

"I'm hungry, too, I suppose," said Botan.

"Come then." He led her to his table, which he remembered clearly having three chairs and three places set on it.

"Um, where will Miss Masago stay?"

Koenma face faulted. "I think I've been tricked again. She's up front, I guess. Now, why didn't I noticed she picked a secluded place a while ago?"

They headed for the buffet table to get their food, some eyes still trailing them. They watch him, since he's quite a sight (and is the prince) and they watched her because she's stunning (and is with the prince). Then, they retreated to their seats and ate in silence.

Koenma broke that.

"Hey, are you mad at me, Botan?" he asked.

"Huh?" she answered. "Why should I be?"

"Well, about the relocation thingy."

"Are you kidding? If I wasn't _fired,_ I wouldn't have met Miss Masago. " She punctuated the "fired" meaningfully.

"Hey!" sputtered Koenma. "I thought…"

"I was just kidding. You're too jumpy."

Somewhere in their vicinity, something fell and broke. As Botan flinched, she accidentally knocked her spoon against the vase of flowers, which tottered but regained its balance. However, the vase hit Koenma's wine glass filled with sparkling white wine. The wine glass tipped over, spraying its contents all over. The glass itself hit Koenma's fork, embedded deep in the mass of mashed potato overflowing with gravy. The mash was catapulted by the force and landed smack on Koenma's face!

"Holy cow!" exclaimed Botan. "I'm sorry, Koenma-sama! I'm so sorry. I'll get it off."

Koenma pouted indignantly as Botan rose to wipe the food of his face.

"If you ask me," he muttered. "You're the jumpy one."

Botan plunked down her seat. "Even though you're in your adult form, you're still a baby."

"Humph." Koenma plunged his fork unto a piece of steak and stuffed it in his mouth.

Botan almost grinned in disbelief. "You're still eating that?"

The slab of meat was practically an island in an ocean of wine.

"Wis wor foth memiway."

Botan chuckled as she watched her old boss eat maniacally like old times. The familiarity was bittersweet. It's going to become a mere nostalgic memory soon.

"Hey, your cheek's eating," Botan said presently.

"Huh?" asked Koenma almost irritated.

She reached over and rubbed the remnants of the potato off his face.

"Oh." Koenma's voice was soft and warm, just like the fingers touching his face.

Her hand lingered in place for a while, she being unsure of what to do next. Koenma gently took it as Botan blushed crimson. As he lowered it slowly, their eyes collided. Her round surprised ones were held spellbound by his penetrating ones.

Click!

Both were dazzled by the sudden flash of white light. There was Masago grinning devilishly, brandishing a camera. She held up a thumbs up sign to them, making them both blush even more.

"Yah!" Koenma cried, making a horrible face at her while Botan stuck her tongue out. Masago only tittered heartily. Then she was whisked away to the dance floor by some gentleman. She did, however, leave a meaningful wink.

Koenma redirected his attention to Botan, who fidgeted with the tablecloth to hide her embarrassment.

"Hey," he said. "Why don't we go out into the veranda? It's way more quiet out there. And no Masago with loony pranks."

"Ok," she replied.

They went to the balcony where Masago and Koenma had been staying a while ago. Presently, Botan spoke.

"I see," she remarked. "So Miss Masago did blackmail you."

Koenma frowned. "She did the same to you."

Botan grimaced. "She tied me up and forced me into this attire. Honestly, I didn't expect her to be that strong. Maybe she could become spiritual detective. You know, to replace the old Tantei since they all retired."

"No, thanks." Koenma shuddered. "She'll probably be harder to manage than Yusuke. And Mr. Yoshio would kill me. Besides, what will be her weapon? Her insufferable wit?"

Botan giggled.

"I must say she did a great job, though." He touched her wings. "It's a perfect touch."

"Yeah, right." Botan's voice was sarcastic but the rosiness that crept up her cheeks, imperceptible in the dark, suggested otherwise.

"Really." He took her hand. "You're absolutely gorgeous."

"Wow… Thanks… I think."

"You doubt me? Never mind. Since your get-up is too nice to go to waste, we should do what everybody else is doing."

"Dance? I don't know how. And neither do you."

"I know that already." Koenma glared at her. "That's why we went out here. So nobody would see us in our foolishness."

Botan rolled her eyes. "Dare I defy his Majesty?"

"'Afraid not." Koenma started twirling her around the balcony. "You're refusal may cost you your life."

"Would it matter if I refuse?" Botan quipped. "We started without my agreement."

"It's one of the few wonderful things about royalty."

They continued to dance with out another word, more or less in time with the music trickling from the mighty orchestra of the ball within. However, the tall stately walls of the ballroom had been replaced by the open air of the veranda. Instead of the brilliant light of the chandeliers, scattered into intricate patterns by the elaborate cuts of the crystals, there was the full moon upon the couple. And the rich paintings in the ceilings were replaced by the equally marvelous simplicity of the roofless sky filled with stars. 

Koenma broke the silence.

"But there are more horrible things noble birth brings," he started in a low voice. "Fixed marriages for example."

Botan cringed. _Of all the topics, why that,_ she thought. Unknown to her, the wily prince stirred the conversation to that topic on purpose.

"You and Miss Masago has been very naughty, Koenma-sama," she admonished. "I'd get into trouble because of you two."

"Well, they can't forced us to get married." We have the right to refuse. It's our life. Besides, we don't love each other."

"Miss Masago is a perfect angel." Botan was indignant.

"Masago is a perfect sly angel." Koenma grinned. "And I love her as a friend, but no more than that. She's like a sister."

"At least, you'd get along when you're married."

"I can't marry a sister. It would be like an incest. Besides, I already found the one I wish to marry. Knowing Masago, she's probably told you, right?"

She didn't answer. She only evaded his eyes, which peered at her persistently.

"What about you? You love Masago, right? So does that mean you love me, too?" Botan practically melted at his straightforwardness. 

"I'm getting kind of dizzy. Maybe we should stop."

"We have stopped, silly."

"Oh." Their eyes met. Again, Koenma's mysterious peepers overpowered her and held her charmed.

"Now," he said slowly and softly as if weighing his words with as much care. "Do you?"

He watched her hopefully, expectantly. His eyes focused specifically on her lips as they opened and shut undecidedly.

"No… yes." Botan's eyes darted everywhere in near desperation. 

"More than a friend?"

"No… um, I suppose so." She bit her lower lip. 

"As a man?"

"Well, I can't love you as a woman, now can I?" 

"Like the way I do?"

Botan said nothing but her eyes betrayed her. Tears overflowed from her beautiful pink eyes that reflected the splendor of the night. The liquid pearls glistened on her face, making her a wonder herself. Koenma brushed them off so subtly, she barely felt his touch. 

"That's not fair," he whispered. "You're spending too much time with Masago you're learning to blackmail, too. Stop crying."

Botan tried to smile, but still the tears kept falling.

"I'll take that as a yes?" he breathed into her ear pulling her close.

"It's best left unanswered," she replied, voice light as a feather. "For both of us." Nonetheless, she laid her head on his chest, letting his presence send courage and fortitude coursing through her. As they resumed their slow dance, she wept freely. 

FROM A HIDDEN window, Masago watched, her elation replaced by infinite sadness. She slid in her haunches, crying in bitter silence.

_No_, her spirit raged inside of her. _This isn't the way it's suppose to be._

It was all too sad. She expected to witness a joyful sweet scene of love's confession, a love that crept in like a thief when they least expected, love that fed on friendship and developed into something deeper. She tried desperately to help her friends but all she accomplished it seems was to establish an opportunity for this doomed love affair to end, an affair they had long ago unconsciously began but discovered too late.

The fiery protective wrath swelled in her heart as she watched the two lovers hold each other for the first, and perhaps last, time in their lives.

SOMETIME LATER, MASAGO reappeared among her guests without any trace of her breaking down earlier. She had secretly retreated to her chamber earlier and managed to succeed on patching up the mascara stains on her face. At least the rest of the make up on her face wasn't damaged.

She was quite surprised when she saw Botan and Koenma on their table, apparently snacking. They were talking as usual, snickering heartily. There was no trace of what happened to them earlier either.

Masago gulped in air and released it slowly, letting the fresh supply of oxygen condition her mind.

_Alright_, she thought. _If they can deal with this, so can I._ So instead of sulking, she accepted another dance from one of her numerous admirers.

Later Kumagai approached her.

"Masago," he said. "Get yourself up there and get ready. The king is to speak on the videophone publicly. Perhaps, he'll announce your wedding as well."

"Wedding?" Masago's voice rose sharply in disbelief. A number of people turned to stare at them so she lowered her voice. "I thought we made it clear we're not ready yet."

"The time is ripe according to his Majesty. Now, go get the prince."

"But Atsumori isn't here yet."

"It doesn't matter. Hurry up, child."

Masago cut across the cramped dance floor, dodging the dancers. She dabbed her face repeatedly as cold sweat slithered on her skin profusely.

"Koenma we have a problem," She said urgently.

"A problem? What is it?" he knew from her tone she wasn't fooling around anymore.

"It is a situation, person or matter that presents perplexity or difficulty but that's not important right now. You're father's going to announce the wedding."

"WHAT?"

"Keep it down." Masago waved away the concerned looks her other guests bestowed upon them.

"I told him not yet."

"What do we do?"

"We wait." He rose. "Excuse us, Botan."

AFTER THE TYPICAL exchange of formalities, Kumagai began his speech. He stood proudly among the collection of Reikai's aristocrats, his daughter and future son-in-law beside him.

"Friends and allies," he said, gesturing with gusto. "The long awaited moment has finally arrived. And it's such a blessed day, isn't it? It commemorates the birth of my beloved daughter, who ranks among the fairest maiden in the land. And of course this is the day when the illustrious Koenma-sama, crown prince and heir to the throne of Reikai announces the-"

BOOM!

The doors swung open with a bang. In entered Yoshio Atsumori with Reikai soldiers trailing behind him. A clamor rose in the crowd as the people exchanged guesses and opinions.

"Perhaps, the king himself has come," they said.

"You've come, niisan!" said Masago, melting half in relief, half in dread. "You're late. I-"

"We will talk later, Masago," he answered. "For now, I have work to do. Your Majesty." He saluted Koenma.

"At ease."

"May I have the permission to address the public?"

"By all means."

"Will the spirit guide Botan please step forward."

Everybody glanced around, searching for the said Botan. Koenma looked at Masago questioningly, who shook her head in bewilderment. From the extreme end of the ballroom, a voice called out.

"Here I am."

The rabble parted to make way for her. She walked towards her mistress's brother.

"I am Botan, former spirit guide."

"Very well," said Atsumori. "You are under arrest for high treason. You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be and will be charged against you. Please cooperate and no one will get hurt. Guards, escort the lady to the palace."

"Yes, sir!"

The tension and unease that had built up earlier came crashing down like dammed up water. Pandemonium broke out. Everybody wanted to know what was really happening. Kumagai hastened to calm the guests down. Masago and Koenma rushed to Atsumori to bombard him with questions.

"What are you doing, brother?" she demanded. "This is my party. I'll forgive you for being late but you didn't have to ruin it!"

"I'm sorry, imouto," he said almost sadly. "I'm just doing my job."

"Atsumori, Botan is my lady-in-waiting. I assure you she's innocent whatever you claim her crime is."

"What is she being accused of specifically?" asked Koenma as a matter-of-factly, his supervisor-self taking over.

"She's innocent," insisted Masago. "I'll vouch for her!"

Atsumori shook head. "I can't say I'm not sorry for your friend, though, Masago," he said. "She'll be vituperated, knowing their methods. Don't worry, sister. It's just circumstantial evidence."

"You can't keep her long in those grounds," said Koenma.

"I'm sorry, your Highness." Atsumori bowed respectfully. "You'll have to take the matter up with the king."

"Believe me, I will."

Notes: Ahhh! No more! I'm dead sleepy. _Ever After_ is such a good movie. Hey! I didn't pattern this after that (except for the wings :P)

Wah! I blew it again. Was that awful or was that terrible? Anyway, that song is entitled _The Last Night of the World_ from Miss Saigon. I forgot all the other details but I'm sure that song isn't mine. So don't bother suing. I only borrowed it, 'kay?


	12. Responsibilities

**Disclaimer: The usual.**

**Twelfth Chapter**

Responsibilities

"MADAM, PLEASE STOP!" yelled a voice. "Miss Masago, not another step. Please!"

Koenma scowled, looking up from his work.

"Will you keep it down out there?" he yelled, irritated. "I'm trying to work here."

Footsteps running and even more outcries were heard. Then the door swung open.

"Koenma, what are you doing here?" came Masago's voice. "They're shipping Botan to Makai. Do something!"

"There's nothing we can do, Masago," he said. "Go home."

"What!" Masago exclaimed incredulously, oblivious to the stares of the office workers. "Are you saying you'll let her get punished for a crime she didn't commit?"

Koenma said nothing.

"I can't believe you. You've known her for years and yet you doubt her. I have known her for barely three months yet I trust her with my life."

The prince struggled to keep his cool.

"It's no use, okay?" he said. "She admitted everything."

"What/"

"They found her spirit print on the archives as evidence. She also admitted to traveling from the Yoshio mansion to the palace."

"That's not enough proof for treason."

Koenma frowned, rubbing his forehead. "I've no time to spare to discuss law with you."

"Dammit Koenma! Tell me why my friend is being exiled!" Everybody turned to her in shock. Not only were they astounded by the fact that she just cursed the crown prince of Reikai, but also because they can't believe that it is the faultless Masago who's talking.

"It's safer that way, okay?" Koenma answered in annoyance. "She may be possessed or something by someone else, but out there she won't do any damage."

"Among the demons?"

Koenma continued working.

"Blsht!" Gasps was heard around the room and everybody stared at her.

"Look, Masago, I told you there's nothing we can do-"

"Unbelievable bl sht!"

Koenma glared at her. "I'm not obligated to do anything. That's not my line of duty. I have my own work to do. "

"What do you mean you're not obligated?" demanded Masago. "I thought you made it clear to each other last night how you feel? I thought..."

Koenma turned his face away from her angrily. "It doesn't matter what or what didn't happen last night," he said. "It doesn't matter at all."

"Why?"

"Why!" He turned back to her. "And I thought you're smarter than Botan." He shook his head in mock exasperation. "I'm marrying you, remember?"

"Don't you want to marry someone you love?"

"Unfortunately, that option isn't exactly open for me. And neither is it with you."

"Oh, yes, it is!" Her expression challenged him to belie her words.

"Do you actually think you can fight them?"

"Yes. And I will. You should, too, for Botan."

"Botan, Botan! Why do you keep on dwelling on her?"

"She's what I came here for, remember?"

"Look, whatever my feelings are for her, it wouldn't matter."

"You're right. It doesn't matter. My point is that someone innocent is going to jail."

"We've been through this. We have to let justice take it's course."

"Justice? Do you think I don't know how justice is in Reikai?"

Koenma scratched his head impatiently. "If I tell you my feelings for her doesn't go beyond platonic, will you leave me alone?"

"So all that happened last night was for a show?" she accused. "You were probably a part of the conspiracy, the conspiracy to frame Botan so that Reikai could escape from one of it's scrapes again."

Koenma banged the table. "I would advise you to choose your words with care Madam," he said in a carefully controlled voice. "I am the Prince of Reikai."

"And you're supposed to be a man!" Masago snapped back.

"Whatever I try to do, it won't work out."

"Sniveling coward! So that's it?"

"Look, I'm just a servant. I am tied to the throne. Fine, I was born with privileges few people could even imagine, but attached to them are specific obligations."

"Hah! You're just too cowardly to fight for what's right. Marrying her wouldn't interfere with your so-called obligations."

Koenma groaned. "Here we go again."

"Fine. Fine." Masago sighed helplessly. "I guess you really just don't deserve her," she said curtly. "And this." She took out a folded piece of stationary from her bosom and tore it repeatedly. She scattered the remains over her shoulder as she exited.

Koenma glared after her. "How about you? Can you do anything?" He stood up defiantly.

Masago stopped momentarily, arching her head to glare back at him probingly. "Perhaps not," she admitted. "But at least I do something. I'm getting her out myself." She stomped off.

"That's against the law. You'd get in trouble, too."

"I already am in trouble."

She was gone.

Koenma flung himself back on his seat and an assortment of profanities rushed forth from his mouth unabashedly. The curious mob that had gathered at the doorway of his office stared at him in shock. Previously, they believed that such words cannot be found in their great prince's vocabulary.

"By Enma," said one to his companions. "And this is before their wedding. How will it be when they're married?"

"I'm telling you," said another. "Two hot-tempered bluebloods in one roof is big trouble."

"I don't know," said a purplish blue oni. "It's kind of entertaining."

"Yeah," agreed a ferry girl. "Sure beats the monotony."

Koenma glowered at them in return to their ogles. "What the hell are you doing?" he yelled. "Go back to work and leave me in peace!"

With that, everyone scampered out of the office, leaving the steaming dragon inside.

"You don't understand," he muttered dejectedly. "Nobody does." He rummaged in his desk, searching for nothing in particular. He came upon the diary and began reading to relax himself.

May 1

Ahhhh... Spring is in full bloom and everything is simply ravishing! And guess what? It's the end of the eighth month. Just one more month and the child shall be born.

You should expect a lot more entries in here later. The royal physician had forbidden me to work and had me confined in my chambers. He said my condition is far too fragile for me to be able to stand long hours at the office. I feel fine though, and very excited.

I don't know about _him,_ though. At least he has the decency to inquire about my health once in a while. His visits are scheduled, too. I think he treats it like one of his appointments, as if it is an obligation he has to fulfill. I didn't expect him to let me have my leave either. I don't really blame him, though. He does have a lot to do and thus needs my assistance badly.

Right now, the only thing bothering me is worry. I worry about the work I left behind. I worry the rest of my life will be nothing more but work. I worry that someday my child will have to start working at an early age and also work like mad for the rest of his life. I even worry he might not be the one to ascend the throne.

Alright, so there is boredom as well. I've taken to listening to my chambermaid's incessant prattle. Through her, I find out about the outside world. (I'm locked up in the castle, remember?) Unfortunately, they're just gossips. Sometimes, I sit in court to snatch some bits and pieces of news. I don't really know what's happening to the rest of the kingdom I help rule.

Mr. Kumagai is going to be a father soon as well. Forgive me, he already is a father. Catalina, for sure, has two boys. Kumagai is hoping for a girl this time. But honestly, I'm not-

_Wait a minute_, thought Koenma, snapping to full attention. _Catalina? Sounds familiar._

He flipped furiously through the previous pages.

"Impossible," he muttered. "It must be a coincident."

Unbelievable indeed, but there it was written clearly.

Catalina Grey and Yoshio Kumagai.

It was as if the world as we know it turned topsy-turvy. Koenma felt as if he was a black hole and the world was rushing towards him and smothering him out of existence. He groped at the table, his other hand still clutching the dairy of forbidden secrets. Cold sweat trickled down his temple and dropped into the parchment, smudging the neat lettering.

The realization was too stunning, but he still didn't believe it. He rushed on, flipping pages at a furious pace. He continued reading in spite of himself.

sure about his claim of the child. Never mind.

Catalina and I had a lovely chat today. It was rather prim and, well, torturously formal. At least we warmed up after a really cool reception on my part. I just couldn't keep a grudge against a person for too long. Maybe I'm just too good. What do you think?

I'm not really sure why she came. Perhaps, it's because Kumagai told her to. Maybe Enma-sama himself did. It doesn't matter anyway. I was glad of the company.

You might think of me as a weird callous woman. Imagine, I'm actually fraternizing with my husband's mistress! But what the heck? it's like a deformation in your body. It's unpleasant but you have to make the best of it. It is for the good of Reikai.

Anyway, we spoke about our babies. Or rather, our future babies. Catalina, like Kumagai, wanted a female child also after the two consecutive boys. She wanted to name her Masago. It's such a nice name, isn't it?

If mine's a girl, I'll name her Isa (Old German), short and sweet. It means "strong-willed one". She'll be queen one day and an iron will she's got to have.

What if it's a boy? Vladimir (Old Slavic; royally powerful or famous)? It's quite fitting for a ruler, isn't it?

How about Shanahan (Old Slavic)? It means wise sagacious one. Those indeed are qualities needed by a ruler.

And Ronan ( Irish Gaelic). The name means "little seal". The name makes me laugh. I can almost see him stamping piles of paper with his little seal.

Look at me. He hasn't even set foot on this world and I name him for his future duties. So maybe, I should name him Tristram (Latin Welsh) or sorrowful labor. I, for one, know the work entrusted to him even as he is being formed is not easy nor desirable. I can attest to both by my observation and experiences.

Hmmm... Then I shall name him Bran (Old Celtic). It means raven. The raven stands for many things. Like the phoenix, it is a symbol of continued life or rebirth. As the prince of Reikai, he shall witness firsthand the mortals' trek through this journey of life. He, on the otherhand, shall have to suffer an even worse life of ceaseless work.

I think the raven is also a sign of wisdom and keen intuition. I hope he'll grow up to rule as a great king. May his reign be remembered forever as one of great reform and prosperity. And joy, of course. I'm sorry if I seem to be imposing so much expectation on an unborn child. They're just a mother's daydreams. He'll get real ones ( lots of it) later on.

For me, the raven also stands for strength, courage and fortitude. These I believe he really needs. Believe me he does, and I hope with all my heart that he'll have lots of them.

You may be wondering why I had lots of names for a boy but only one for a girl. I personally would like a girl but I know somehow that it will be a boy. I can feel it.

His majesty of course flatly refused to even consider them. He said they were cheap Ningen names. His son shall have the name Koenma.

Koenma could have sworn his heart stopped. _This is my mother's dairy!_? His thoughts questioned the heavens silently. _No!_

He squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, then released it in a long raspy sigh. He braced himself.

"I need some more proof," he said aloud. Then, he began reading again.

May 12

Do you remember the time I said I doubt Kumagai's claim on the children of Catalina?

First and foremost, I want to make it clear that it is not jealousy that makes me think this way. As I said, I am not jealous for myself but for the child. But there are rumors whispered among the inhabitants of Reikai. I'm afraid I'm quite inclined to believe it.

There are "if's" and even more "why's". I have to admit I'm starting to like this investigating thing. Of course I can no longer do my research in the archives (even a snake can get lost there). I rely on my ears and the ever wagging tongues of my ladies-in-waiting and chambermaids.

You know I didn't marry his Highness willingly. (Of course I wouldn't marry a viper like that!) We were forced.

The king and Miss Catalina had long been in love, as I mentioned before. Enma-sama had been wanting to marry her for ages. Enma's father, then the king, flatly refused.

I didn't understand it before. Catalina is a noblewoman. She came from an illustrious family. When it comes to anomalies, the Greys may not have a spotless slate but they're ancient and influential. She was at the time, the only living Grey aside from her father.

Now, one of the brighter sides of being queen is having access to the archives. There, I found out why my father-in-law was so against Catalina. But before that I'll tell you what happened to us.

I was forced by my family to marry his Highness. I was then on my way to the Northern provinces to study the souls of aborted children. Of course, I refused. Firstly, I wanted to concentrate on my career first. Secondly, I don't even know the man I was supposed to marry. I had no choice in the matter though, just as he has none.

My family is an ancient line of nobility. We were also powerful and influential like the Yoshios and Greys. It's only natural I had many suitors back then. However, I chose to study. My father became displeased. For him, it wasn't right for a woman to have too much education. He believes we belong in the household, nothing more. He readily agreed to my father-in-law's proposal to marry me to the heir to the throne. Who wouldn't? Think of the prestige and wealth!

Catalina, too, was forced to marry Kumagai. It's quite strange even then. Kumagai is his Majesty's best friend, his devil's advocate, his shadow. He does everything Enma-sama tells him to do. Until now, he still does.

This is what I found out about the Greys. The ancient family apparently has its roots in Makai. The youkai genes in them has become recessive through the passage of time. However, the combination of their genes with those of the royal line proved disastrous.

It happened once before. A Grey married one of the former kings and had a child, a youkai child who had the ability to control the mind of others.Only a few people are resistant to the child's powers. Those of the royal family and Althea, a Grey herself.

The youkai grew up and slowly took control of the whole kingdom. He expanded the territories even at the cost of countless lives. It caused war between the three worlds. In fact, they say a very advanced race that lived before the current inhabitants of Ningenkai was wiped out. I can see even now, even after the passage of millennia, the enmity existing between us.

They say all these stemmed from something even deeper and older. They say at the dawn of this world, the royal family and the Greys were cursed. The union of the two families will unleash destruction, strife and acrimony throughout Reikai. There will be one in a generation, the one they call Doom, who shall bring all this.

The Chaos Bringer shall only be appeased once a sacrifice is made. One of the Greys, one named Althea (healer) shall have to shed blood. Then the Doom's reign of terror shall cease and he shall perish in a violent death.

Althea, they say, was a beautiful girl,. She had snow-white hair and big royal blue eyes. Rumors had it she had a husband and a son. Nobody knows what happened to her afterwards or whether her line survived.

I've known this story before as a childhood fairytale and so has a good many generations before me. We didn't know it had historical basis. I didn't believe it to be the real cause why my father-in-law forced me to marry his delinquent son. That is, until I read the account I had shared with you just now.

Sometimes, I want to cry whenever I get reminded of that. Imagine! My life was ruined because of a myth, because our ruler adhered to obsolete beliefs and superstition. But I have to admit, those stories still made me afraid sometimes.

Back to the Kumagai issue, I'll tell you why I don't think he fathered the first child. Catalina gave birth to that child five months after her wedding with Kumagai. How did that happen?

Kumagai couldn't have sired the child since they practically don't know each other. They were forced to marry, remember?

It has to be his Majesty.

It's amazing how I'm writing all these so calmly. Yes, I do realize how much danger this may pose to my child but I swear I'd protect him. Heir or not he shall not be harmed.

Knowing the silly superstition they believe in court, I realize how impossible that is. They will not allow Catalina's child to ascend the throne even though he's the rightful heir. And so my child is safe. Still, the fear remains.

Isn't it sad? We four were just pawns of fate. We were all victims of circumstance. So whenever I feel self-pity starting to gnaw at me, I remember Catalina, Kumagai, Enma-sama, their child, my child, and I realize: I'm not the only one who suffers.

Koenma was still coughing. He had choked on his own saliva a while ago after he read the part about the illegitimate child.

"That means Yoshio Atsumori is my brother," he gasped. "He's the rightful heir to the throne. He's the one who should be called Koenma. I am a mistake."

The mistake was torn into two contradicting emotion. One was almost sadistic glee. He was free! The weight of a whole world that rests on his shoulder was not his responsibility after all. The other horror and pain. This is all too shocking a revelation for him: all these people involved, hurt; his father cheating on his mom; the fact that he was an unwanted child, his conception merely a duty to be fulfilled. And now he realized that a part of him doesn't really hate the idea of being king someday.

His head was reeling, the confusion worse than ever. His stomach, retching and being squelched. His heart, his chest hurt as if it was being squeezed and minced mercilessly. Even his spirit, if it was possible, aches. Every cell of his body was screaming in silent agony. Still, he read on.

May 21

Forgive me. I had promised I'd write more often but I guess my illness took its toll.

There is no denying anymore. I'm weak. I got sick but though the disease itself has left my body, it has left me weak and fragile. The doctor was afraid I might not be able to make it after the birthing with such strenuous labor. My little raven might have to grow up without a mother.

This may be my last entry for the time being. It's hard to see properly and my fingers cannot hold the pen for too long. So this is a goodbye old friend. I just wanted to write a last confession. It isn't mine. It's Catalina's.

Catalina has been my sole companion through out my sickness. She took care of me and kept me company even as she stepped on the fifth month of her gestation period.

No, she wasn't sucking up. I don't think anybody asked her to do this. It was as if I could see right through her. I know precisely why she's doing it.

A few days ago, I told her exactly what's on my mind.

"Listen," I had said. "I can't tell you that you have no reason to be guilty because you do. But don't berate yourself. It's all our… well, we all contributed something to this problem. Besides, we're all victims of circumstance. In a way, it's not really our fault. I can't say that I don't feel any hard feelings against you because I do. But I thought if I hate you, then I should hate myself also."

I didn't expect her reaction. I thought she would also tell me of her resentment, of her pain, pain that I caused when I "stole" her love. But it was actually the opposite that happened. She burst in to tears and prostrated herself at my bedside.

"You're too good, your Grace!" she cried. "Too good for your sake. Please don't spare me. I have sinned a thousand times against you, against your child, against the whole of Reikai. I deserve the due punishment."

She confessed to me the ill-fortune of their relationship and then the illicit affair, things I already had known about even before then. Her guilt finally overcame her passion when she found out I was carrying a child. It was then she broke off her relationship with the king.

She asked my forgiveness though she didn't expect any. She just wanted to show her repentance. She wanted to tell me everything because I have a right to know.

She said it simply, without much elaborate explanation. One phrase summarized everything she said.

Yoshio Kumagai is incapable of reproduction.

I suppose you, too, understand it. And to you my son, if you ever get to read this, understand that I have never been totally indifferent. I hope you'll be a stronger person than us your parents and not to make the mistakes we did.

And remember my darling Koenma, Prince of Reikai, I shall always be your mother and you shall always and forever be my Bran.

This was the last entry of Tamara Lavonia, Queen of Reikai before she died. This of course is evident in the succeeding pages void of writing. And she certainly isn't here now.

She is fortunate for what may have been her death wish has been granted. Her son is indeed wise and sagacious. But is he strong enough? Time will tell sooner than expected.

Koenma leafed through the next pages, all empty. He clutched the diary to his heart, letting the tears fall freely.

"Thank you, mother," he whispered. "You saved me from making the worst mistake in my life. But what if it's too late?" He shook his head astutely. "No matter what happens, I will be strong, mother. I promise."

Note: Hmmmm…. Major OOCness. Oh well. Um, I won't be able to upload for a while since I have exams coming and all. Give me a….hmmm.. three weeks?

Anyways, feel free to tell me all your complaints, rants, suggestions, whatever.


	13. Trial and Error

**Disclaimer:** I have my own crosses to carry and their none too light at the moment, Mr. Lawyer. If you could be so good as to leave poor little me alone. :sniff: I'm thoroughly convinced that I'm doing nothing wrong. I am not claiming Yu Yu Hakusho or anything else about it. I am only borrowing them for the sake of putting my twisted mind to _some_ use. So please don't hurt me…..

Note: Has it been three weeks? Lost count. . Actually, I planned to upload after the school periodic exam but apparantly FFnet was done then. So you see, it ain't my fault I'm late in uploading. LOL All the tests are over (actually I still have some next week but….). Yey! But they won't be gone for long. Another batch will come in a few weeks time. But for now….

**Thirteenth Chapter**

Trial and Error

KOENMA WIPED THE tears from his face, smearing black ink all over it. (His hands are soiled from all the stamping.) He rolled off his seat, his knees giving way under him. He fell, bumping his desk, toppling over the numerous piles of paperwork. He crawled through it indifferently, searching for the torn pieces of Botan's letter. When he finally found the last portion, he pieced the letter together.

Dear Koenma-sama,

I hope you're not working yourself to death again. Um… I have to hurry up with this. We'll be leaving for Makai soon. Duh. Why am I telling you this? Of course, you already know.

I'm sorry about what happened last night. I must have been carried away or something. I mean the mood was so romantic and all that. It's like living a scene from romance novel, ne? I guess we both thought we were in theater or something. Anyways, I suggest you forget it. It'll just stir up trouble for you if others find out (especially your father).

And forget me too, okay? You and Miss Masago forget me. I know you two (is) are really hardheaded but there's just things you can't change. We all have to make sacrifices. Now you two stop (bikering) bickering, get married and make it work out, okay?

Oh yeah, I made a boo-boo again. Sorry. (Peace!) I sort of lied to the investigating team. I said I went to the (arcives) archives but the truth is I didn't. At least, I don't recall doing so. They all said I did anyway, so maybe I did. You know me.

I do remember going through the passage they're talking about. However, it didn't lead to the (palas) palace. It lead to this room, which had this multicolored flower I can't describe very well. I hid it in my room in the secret place. You know about it, right? Do you remember? I almost strangled you when you found it while snooping around my room years ago. Anyway, just take a look at it please. Show it to Kurama or maybe Yukina. One of them might know what it is.

Anyway, I'll tell you exactly what I think happened. I remember sitting on this chair when something (wird) weird happened and I blackened out. When I woke up, I found myself on the clinic and then Sir Ieyasu summoned me to his office. He told me I was found by the sentinels and that was it. We also had a near argument about you and Miss Masago. He sort of blamed me for the failed match. I guess he was partially right to say the least.

I can imagine you cursing me for my stupidity already. (Peace again!) I was afraid Miss Masago might get into trouble, too. If I told them the truth, the police will surely make a fuss and the Yoshio family shall be scandalized, which brings me to the real purpose of this letter. Please do this last favor for me. Just in case anybody in the Yoshio family is found guilty of something, don't let the public know. If any shame comes to them because of this (confetion) confession, I'd be fairly angry with myself.

Not at you, of course. I know it's not your fault. And I'm not asking you to give them immunity or something. I know your good nature won't let you do such a thing. Just please make sure to conceal any scandal, okay?

I guess this letter is also goodbye. The guard outside my cell is such an impatient jerk. He's yelling for me to get it over with so I will. By the way, sorry about the erasures. I can't think properly with that creature at the other side of the bars throwing a fit.

Well, see you old friend. Take care. Remember to eat thrice daily. And have at least eight to ten hours sleep (I heard sleep requirement decreases as one gets old but in your toddler form anyway…). Please take a vacation at least once a year. And try to smile once in a while. Whistle while you work or something. You'll wrinkle your forehead and wouldn't Yusuke dig that? He'll say you're a chibi ojiichan. Oh, I keep on forgetting your staying on your adult form permanently! (smacks head)

One last thing, **don't** forget. Miss Masago's birthday is on the twentieth next month. Buy her a gift for me. She really loves those chocolates and sweets from south of Reikai. Why don't you buy her some from Ningenkai and see which ones she likes better?

There. That stupid soldier is scolding me again. I gotta run. Ja ne!

(Lo)

(Affec)

Sincerely,

Botan

P.S. Tear this up after reading it. It's easier to forget something if there's nothing to remind you with, right?

It took a while for the contents to sink in. When they did, Koenma punched the floor as hard as he could.

"Botan-no-baka!" he roared. "I can't believe you're that stupid not to understand the situation. Treason is punishable by death DAMMIT!"

All the confessions he read in that tiny space of time bore down on him mercilessly. It was as if everything was cramped inside him and that he ran out of space to register everything at once. He felt numb, drained, totally battered. He just sat there on his haunches, staring limpidly at her letter, his hands hanging lifelessly on his side. No expression showed on his face but the tears continuously fell from his eyes.

"You're an idiot, Botan," he murmured. "You're being accused of treason and you're in danger of death penalty but you still think of others before yourself."

He shook his head, sighing in exasperation. Then, he smiled lightly in spite of himself.

"Sorry, my scatter-brained chicken of a spirit guide," he said. "But it's never wise to listen to your counsel when it comes to legal matters. I do learn from experiences."

With that, he stuffed the letter in his pocket, stood up groggily and went on his way.

GEORGE SATOME BRISKLY made his way down the employees' quarters. He had been searching for the royal fledgling for quite some time already. Well, Botan's old room seemed such a strange place for him to be, but then again, being a close friend of the ferry girl, he might have been searching for something to save her from exile. At least, that's what George thought.

"Koenma-sama," said the blue creature, knocking on the door. "Your father wants you in the conference room now."

No answer. A few moments later, the door swung open and the prince himself emerged.

George's jaw fell. He was shocked by the prince's appearance. His clothes are dirty, as are his face and hands. His hair was disarrayed with lone strands standing on end. But what struck the oni worse were his eyes. Koenma was sporting wild-eyes, red and puffy. The ordinarily serene peepers were darting everywhere as if in desperation.

The oni opened his mouth to inquire his boss about his health. His stopped a moment later, however, apparently changing his mind. Koenma didn't seem to notice.

"Which conference room?" asked the prince wearily.

"Main building, fourth floor, right wing."

Koenma nodded then walked away.

George jogged after his charge, then hesitated. He sure didn't want to get a yelling, but the baby-sitter in him spoke up.

"Koenma-sama?" he asked almost fearfully. "Is there something wrong?"

The other turned around, an impatient scowl threatening to form on his face. The concerned look of his old servant softened him, though. He shook his head.

George was unconvinced but knew not to press.

"Well, I must go now," he said, and walked off.

"Hey," Koenma called after him. "The leave you're asking for. Go take it. Now."

George was surprised but joy immediately replaced the initial reaction.

"You're an angel, Koenma-sama!" he shouted, skipping away.

Koenma watched him disappear around the bend. "Some angel," he snorted. Then with one final melancholic smile, he left.

"See you, George."

THE COUNCIL HAD started the meeting despite the incompleteness of the assembly. It was the prince himself who was late and that has never happened before. Nonetheless, they listened uneasily as the reports on the latest development on the situation were presented.

Sometime later, the crier announced the tardy one's arrival. However, the Koenma who entered was different from the one we saw earlier. His eyes had lost its wild confused look, now replaced by an empty coldness. His hair was combed properly and was very clean. He was no longer wearing his soiled clothes. Nor was he wearing one of his typical uniform on red, blue and white. On the contrary, he looked _very_ cool in his attire.

"I want to fetch the ferry girl Botan from her cell," he declared; no greeting, no nothing.

The members of the assembly looked at each other dismally. They did expect this. But not this soon.

"Your Highness," said one. "That would be quite impossible. See-"

"The girl has been sent to Makai," interrupted Enma. "If you've been here earlier, you would have heard the minutes of the previous meeting and the latest news. Sit down, Koenma."

"I'm not done yet, sir," the prince answered coolly. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to settle my business here immediately so as to allow me to move on to others later."

Koenma checked his audience. They were gawking at him. They just couldn't believe he had disobeyed a direct order. The prince only half-smiled, satisfied.

"I believe my former employee has been a victim of mistrial," he started. "Proof that she has been in the archives is not conclusive of treason. We have no proof at all that she has made any youkai. Besides, we really aren't really positive she's been to the archives at all."

"But the ki print-" said somebody.

"Ki prints can be faked. I myself have done so many times before. That's how I manage to sneak out the office undetected."

"Are you suggesting a conspiracy is involved here?"

"Not necessarily. Anybody could have done it."

"Are you doubting the integrity of out workers?" asked another rather insolently.

"No, but there are powerful beings capable of controlling the mind of others."

Silence. Then…

"She has confessed, sir," piped one timidly.

"According to law," said Koenma. "Confessions are not sufficient grounds in judging a case. Strong evidence must be able to support such confessions."

"But Miss Botan's case has not yet been given a verdict. She's just being sent away for security reasons."

"In that case, we have no right to detain her. She has not yet been proven guilty and is therefore presumed innocent."

"Yes, but she still posses as a potential threat to the safety of classified information and the populace itself."

"Which is why we have to investigate this deeper." He held up the indescribable flower and the letter he attempted to piece together. "These are new leads. I want this flower studied now. You may also use this personal letter of mine received from the accused herself. Also this." He brought out something from the pocket of his trench coat, making sure his eyes were locked on to his father's emotionless ones. "My mother's diary."


	14. Emotional Hijacking

**Disclaimer:** Um… Look at the previous chapters if you like.

**Fourteenth Chapter**

Emotional Hijacking

UTTER PANDEMONIUM BROKE out. Questions poured out from every mouth but none was answered. Before much time has passed, however, the silent giant figure in the shadows behind them cleared his throat.

"Fine," said the king. "You have my leave to have the flower examined. As for the letter, I leave it to you to decide if you wish to share a private-"

"I do," interrupted Koenma. "If it's for her well being."

"Well, it's your choice. But not your mother's diary. It is her private thoughts and feelings. She has a right to keep it personal. In fact, you shouldn't have read it my presumptuous son."

"Are you afraid it'll spill your secrets?"

"What does it have that makes it crucial to the investigation?"

"A lot."

Enma shook his head. "Very well," he said. "The rest of you may leave. I have to teach little junior here his lessons."

The courtiers forced laugher from their dry throats nervously. They shuffled out of the room quickly enough, leaving father and son alone.

"I'm right," taunted Koenma. "You really are trying to prevent your reeking smell from seeping out of its hiding place. Is all these worth Reikai?"

"Whatever my actions are, I do it on the best interest of you, Reikai and your mother."

At the mention of his mother, Koenma suddenly lost his cool. His eyebrows collided fiercely, forming a vertical crease on his forehead.

"How dare you load your aged mouth with such falsehoods! Do you really hate my mother so much that you desecrate her eternal peace with such lies?"

"Silence!" thundered Enma. "Do not presume to much on my good nature."

"I shall not be silenced!" Koenma shouted back. "I have been denied of even a single memory of my mother and if this is the only chance I get to protect her misused forgotten name, so be it!"

Enma, stoic and stiff, glanced at the timepiece on the adjacent wall. "I believe you still have work to do and little time to waste on such trivial matters," he remarked rather coldly.

Koenma felt himself teeter to madness in his amazement. He couldn't believe his own father is this callous. This only intensified the anger and bitterness he felt when he first found out the truth from his mother's diary. The restraint he managed to build after the first storm of his emotions subsided snapped easily.

"You monstrous fiend," he growled. "You vile manipulative creature!"

He began hyperventilating, the vessels on his temple fiercely standing out as green streaks. Enma remained unaffected, not even with this. He ignored his son like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Don't you feel at least remotely remorseful of what you've done!" Koenma screamed out, pain evident in voice. "Don't you _understand_! You're the one who destroyed her. You killed HER!" Koenma fell on his knees, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of his emotions. His fists pounded on the marble floor impotently, letting his rage flow in some safe direction. "Do you understand?" His voice dropped down to a sobbing whisper. "You killed my mother."

The king merely watched impassively as Koenma poured all his anger into the floor. Soon, the prince's strength ebbed and he finally stopped. He sat on his haunches, panting slightly.

"So all these years…" he said smirking almost maniacally. "being her son, you hated me, as well. And I see you're using the same method you used on her. I am your new slave, her replacement. I'm doing everything she had to do. I'm bearing all the bitterness and anger you had against her for things that was not her fault. You killed her with slave labor and your selfish cruelty. Just like what you're doing with me now."

"Regret is a worthless emotion," said Enma, quietly. "It'll be useless and wrong for me to dwell on my past sins. I have a country to run and I can't be bothered by guilt and nostalgia."

"Past sins?" Koenma laughed, a laugh that will send shards of ice in any human ear and heart. "What about your sins against me?" He made a gesture of frustration, clawing at his head. "Why the hell did you attempt to marry me to my own sister?"

"I never meant for you two to get married."

"Then, what are really trying to do to me, dammit?" Koenma demanded incredulously, punctuating his question with a vicious tug on his now unruly hair. "Need I remind you that it's life you're playing with? Her life. MY life! Why do you love inflicting so much pain on me? I don't mind the labor. I don't mind physical pain, but I'm fed up with all the emotional pain!"

"True," said Enma. "And you survived them all."

"What are you talking about?" Koenma asked wearily.

"All those suffering made you stronger."

Koenma said nothing.

"Am I right?"

Koenma gritted his teeth. "Fine," he grounded out. "Forget about me. I don't care about me. But know this. I'll never forgive you for what you did to my mother. "

"I accept that." Enma shook his head almost ruefully. "You are so like her. Responsible, righteous, idealistic but…"

"But she wasn't tough enough to stand you. "

"Ah, she was at first but then her resistance died away."

Koenma snorted "No one can ever live with you without losing their individuality. You treat people like objects, things to play with according to your whims. No one is tough enough to stand against your tyrannical iron will. "

"Apparently, you are. But it wasn't only me she had to contest. Same is true now."

"I'm ready for anything." Koenma rose and awaited the next batch of news. What with all he found out that day, he was sure he couldn't be shocked by anything else.

"You are right," began Enma. "Your mother's diary does tell much of what is happening now. Those documents were to be destroyed back then. She salvaged what she could. You can find the rest of them in the archives. They are being studied as of now. You may consult the research team, if you wish."

"So one of my brothers, Ieyasu or Atsumori, is the Heir of Doom. Which one?"

"We don't know. It's impossible to know."

Koenma shook his head in dread. "You knew this was bound to happen. Why didn't you do something earlier?"

"As you have read in diary, (I presume you have), it was a problem of refusal of acceptance."

"I see. So what happens now?"

"The information your mother provided in her account is rather insufficient. We were able to stop her from prying effectively."

"How?"

"Contrary to what she thinks, it was I who asked the doctor to convince her not to work." There was a sad edge to his voice. "And I did care."

Koenma said nothing.

"Anyway," he continued. "The Heir of Doom is actually a reincarnation of Doom himself. Doom is now a wandering spirit for he was denied the chance of reincarnation. A child with the right combination of genes gives him an opportunity to be born. However, he is only "squatting" in the child's body, which means the child has two spirits sharing it thus giving him a double personality. That's why it's difficult to detect the real Heir of Doom. Doom can relinquish control of the body anytime he wishes but leaves no trace of his presence whatsoever."

"So my brother is still in there," said Koenma.

"Yes. If you kill the body, you'd be killing both Doom and your brother."

"How do we solve this?"

"The Heir of Althea is the only one who can stop him. We don't exactly now what is to be done but the key is he must not have her."

"Do we have time to search for her? Are we capable of finding her?"

"The Heir of Althea is a descendant of Althea herself and may or may not be her reincarnation. As far as we know, the heir shall exorcise the demon out of the victim. To do so she shall make a sacrifice but what sacrifice we do not know. When the spirit of Doom leaves the Heir of Doom, your brother shall be able to gain control of his body again."

"Who is she?"

Enma's voice became barely audible and very serious. "We didn't have to search for long. Her identity is none of your concern right now."

"Well…" Koenma sighed. He knew it was useless to try coaxing an answer from his stubborn father. "What of Botan?"

"What about the ferry girl?"

"Well, what's the point of detaining her? I mean, everybody's a suspect anyway. They can't take her as a political prisoner."

"Hmmm…."

Koenma looked suspicious. "I'm getting the feeling I'm not being told of everything I'm suppose to know."

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"Yes," replied his son very firmly.

"About the girl… The troop taking her to the capital of Makai had been intercepted by a group of warriors."

"She's been kidnapped?" asked Koenma sharply.

"It appears so."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

Koenma sighed. "Fine, I'll get her myself."

Enma raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware this course of action may lead to a confrontation with the Heir of Doom?"

"All the better. It will be futile to send out soldiers to detain him. Even in this house, we do not know who is the foe, which is the pawn. I'm the only one capable of stopping him as of now. I'm of the royal line after all and is therefore immune of the hex."

The prince turned to leave.

"Need I remind you that you are also the Prince of Reikai, heir to the throne? You have an obligation to fulfill and therefore has no right to gamble your life so rashly."

"Then I'm abdicating," Koenma said coolly, starting to walk away. "One of my brothers can take my place. They're both older than I am anyway. Atsumori's actually the rightful heir. I only hold the title because I'm a legitimate child and he's not."

"Have care on your decision. It's un retractable."

"I have made up my mind." He stopped and turned around. "Is there anything else I need?"

Enma had his back turned from his son. He didn't say anything.

Koenma sighed, then left. The door gently clicked shut behind him.

"Good luck, child," murmured Enma. That was all. If he was distraught by the hatred of his son, worried about the pending danger or remorseful of his paternal shortcomings, he certainly didn't show it.

After a few moments of reflective silence, a voice spoke up from the giant's side.

"Master," it said. "Are you letting him go just like that?"

It was the SWAT team leader. He had not left the when the others did and had therefore witnessed everything.

"Yes. It's his choice."

"What will happen now?"

"We will wait."

Silence.

"Besides," continued Enma. "This is also one of the last wishes of my deceased unhappy wife. She wanted her child to have control of his life… unlike us. But…"

"Sir?"

"He won't be able to… not as king."

IF YOU HAPPEN to be in Reikai sitting cozily in someone's den in front of a blazing fireplace and cradling a mug of hot chocolate, you'll surely appreciate the romantic view of winter offered by the window. However, if you're trudging outside on thin-soled shoes and semi-formal autumn clothes, surrounded by miles and miles of freshly fallen snow, you wouldn't enjoy it that much.

Masago pulled at the drawstrings of her hood and snuggled the best she could within the folds of her light fur coat. She stopped momentarily on top of the hill she just scaled, trying to catch her breath. She sighed, futilely shielding her eyes from the steady fall of snowflakes. Things would have been easier if she was riding on a horse, or at least wearing something warmer.

_Couldn't be helped_, Masago thought. How could anyone know it would snow this early? Besides, she couldn't afford to go back to the stables. She could have been caught and stopped.

She surveyed her surroundings with the inexperienced eyes of a jaded princess new to the outside world. Her heart sank as she saw the never-ending whiteness as far as she can see, stretching in all directions, broken only once in a while by bare haggard-looking trees. She was completely disoriented.

"Oh dear," she murmured worriedly. "I can't distinguish which direction leads to the location of the portal leading to Makai. If only the weather would cooperate a bit!"

She started inching her way down the hillside, clutching at the bits of dead roots protruding along the almost vertical wall of ice-covered terrain. Then suddenly, she stifled a scream as the slippery slush gave way under her feet, sending her sliding down the incline and on to the foot of the hill.

Masago groaned, feeling sore in several places around her body. She tried to stand, failed and collapsed to her original position.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Botan," she whimpered, starting to cry. "I'm just too weak and stupid for this."

"Very stupid apparently," said a voice. "I never thought you could even be stupider than Botan the Brainless Waif."

Masago cleared the snow that has built up upon her face and her hair, which has come undone during her fall. She rubbed at her blurry eyes, straining to see the speaker. She saw a tall man in a long black trench coat of leather. He was leaning towards her, offering his hands to her, an eyebrow raised chidingly.

"Koenma-sama!" exclaimed Masago half in disbelief.

"Point one, how do you expect to travel in this weather?" Koenma asked as he helped her up. "Point two, do you expect to reach Makai on foot? Point three, do you honestly believe you can have Botan released by yourself? Point four, do you even know where she is?"

"No." Masago winced at the short tirade. "I _was_ praying for help."

"Koenma the Great One just answered your prayers," he announced smugly.

"Well…" She brushed the midnight shawl away from her face. "I was hoping for someone better, like Botan's friends in Ningenkai but I suppose-" She shook her head. "You'll do, you'll do."

"Oh, yeah that is sooo funny, Masago."

Bwahaha! Bwahaha! Heeheeheehee…… Thanks for reading. Remind me if I'm slipping. I'm too lazy sometimes. Grrr…... I'm such a procrastinator…..

Comments, suggestion, rants, disappointments, water-filled ballons are all welcome.


	15. Enemies

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.

**Fifteenth Chapter**

Enemies

IT IS WINTER, too, in that part of Makai. Most of its inhabitants were burrowed in their respective beds, sleeping for once with the blizzard outside. Even the craziest youkai wouldn't dare venture out of their homes. Some of those beings, madder than usual, was out in that wild night. Perhaps, their lunacy has its basis. They believe what they're doing is for the country.

After a while, the being who appeared to be the leader, halted.

"We should set up camp here for the night," he said, gesturing towards the crack in the wall of rock on the mountainside.

"What for?" answered one. "Are you that weak? We'll stop later after we've crossed the range."

The leader shook its head. "The girl won't last long."

"What's so important about the girl?"

He shrugged. "The master's orders are to be followed not questioned."

He walked to their prisoner. He nudged the girl with his booted feet.

"You, woman," he boomed. "Are you alive or dead?"

Botan attempted to rise despite the objections of her body. She was tired, drained of everything. Why won't she just die?

"I'm sorry," she managed to say hoarsely. "May I rest for a while?"

The leader grunted. "Pathetic," he said. "We'll have to stop for a while. Her safety is our priority."

They brought her inside the cave and dumped her in a corner, her eyes still squinting from the glare of light reflected by the snow. The youkai built a roaring fire, which started to melt her frozen body effectively. She was still too exhausted to recover anytime soon. She watched the melted ice pool around her feet, and felt her strength debilitate and flow out with the water.

If they haven't stopped then, she really would have perished. After that hike from Reikai in that extreme weather condition, it was a miracle she survived. Her will to live is amazing. But for her there's really no reason to continue living. Why does she resist?

_I'm so tired_, she thought. _This moment's rest is much help but it won't last long. I don't think I'll last if we start our trek again. But I can't go without seeing if Koenma-sama has done what I asked him to. If only I'm sure they'd be all right… But I'm not so I have to hold on._

She happened to look down on her feet and was surprised as a bright red stain grew on her kimono. Her feet, tucked under the rather thin clothing, were bleeding from the lacerations she got on rocky roads they had to walk on. Maybe the cold of the night was so much it prevented the bleeding and now that she has thawed a bit it started again. She didn't feel any pain, though. Her body was still too numb to feel anything but the drained battered weary sensation. She turned away from it.

_Still, I have to accept. I'll never know,_ she continued with her reminiscing. _There's no way I'll know._

Botan sighed. "If only I can see him one last time and hear for myself a promise he'd look out for himself," she murmured. "I'd be content."

She laughed quietly to herself. _Oh look,_ she thought, gazing outside without actually seeing._ I must be so tired I'm seeing things. I'm actually seeing Koenma-sama in his cloud thingy._

"Oh, well," she said aloud. Then, she slumped against the rock walls of the cavern and surrendered to sleep.

"MASAGO ARE YOU sure this is where they turned?"

The girl pouted. "Yes," she said firmly.

"Well, I don't see them anywhere," muttered Koenma, peering everywhere.

"Look, I saw what I saw." Masago stamped her foot lightly. "I saw them go north while we were up there and that's here."

Koenma shot her a skeptical look. "North is that way." He pointed to his right.

Masago blushed, which was very noticeable against the white background. "Well, I was facing this way so I assumed its north."

"Humph." Koenma marched away muttering. "Why don't women ever carry map in their skulls?"

"Because our heads have something called brain in it," she retorted, irritated. "Besides, we shouldn't have landed immediately anyway. It's easier to follow them when we're flying."

"I think that 'something' in your head is called air. If we hadn't landed we would have been spotted."

"Of course, we would have been spotted! Fine, you look stunning and all but couldn't you have at least worn a less contrasting color for camouflage? I mean, even the worst archer in the world wouldn't miss you!"

"What about you? Thin-soled loafers, a floor length dress, and a flimsy silk cloak. Look who's overdressed!"

"Well, I cannot help it if I have nothing else available. My winter wardrobe is still locked up in the chests."

"Well, I don't have anything else either! You want me to dress in my uniform? I'd look worse than a knife thrower's assistant clown."

"Good. At least, you know you do not look too nice in that blue and red attire of yours."

"And you know that you look-" _Ugly!_ Koenma stopped, eyeing the woman before him dubiously.

Masago waited, challenging him with her eyes. "Go ahead and lie. Call me ugly, if you can."

"-like a porcelain doll in your clothes." Koenma stuck his tongue out.

"Humph." They turned away from each other sulkily.

Suddenly, Koenma rolled his eyes. "This is silly," he said. "How did we end up arguing about fashion? You know if we keep on like this, we won't be able to help Botan."

"I know," grumbled Masago. "You started it. You don't trust me."

"I guess it's because I'm not really sure whether or not the Heir of Doom is fixedly male or he can be female, too."

"What are you speaking of?"

"Um, never mind. Let's just call it quits. Ok, little sis?"

"Fine. I was wondering, though. Why do you keep calling me little sister?"

"Don't you like it?" Koenma had his eyebrows raised.

"Well, it's ok, I guess." She lolled her head to one side, twirling a strand of her hair thoughtfully on her fingers. "It just sounds… weird."

Koenma smiled to himself. _If you only knew_, he thought. _The truth really is stranger than fiction_.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Well," began Masago, measuring her words carefully. "I believe you should be calling me nee-san instead."

Koenma face faulted. "I can't believe I _ever_ thought of you as modest."

"Hey, I'm just basing it on comparison of your mental maturity with mine."

"I give up. But really, I'm physically older than you."

"I appreciate the buttering up but the truth is never flattering."

Koenma snorted. "I'm not trying to compliment you. I'm telling the truth."

"How would you know?" Masago pouted skeptically.

"I just know." Koenma smiled again. "And I won't even ask your age."

Masago suddenly stopped looking around. "It's rather peculiar. If you're my pretend brother and she's my pretend sister, then you two are pretend siblings, too. How can that be if you're-" she stopped. "Sorry."

"For what? I will ask her but we're not a hundred percent sure she'll accept, right?" Koenma grinned at her rather foolishly.

Masago was surprised. "But…"

"Let's just keep it a secret, okay? I've abdicated."

His half-sister gasped. "But Reikai-"

"Don't worry about that." then, he added silently. _You'll find out later_.

"Okay." Masago frowned dubiously. "I trust you."

"Good. And I also trust you."

Koenma fumbled around his pockets and brought out a crumpled piece of parchment. He read its contents one last time as if to memorize them.

_Okay_, he thought. _It says here, to stop the Heir of Doom, the Heir of Althea must make a sacrifice to exorcise the spirit of Doom out of the heir itself. Too bad the sacrifice part has been burned off._ He fingered the burned edge of the paper. _Now, the key is to keep the Heir Althea from Doom otherwise, he shall be able to stop the sacrifice. The Heir of Doom is capable of controlling other people through their mind. The only ones immune are those of the royal line, which includes me, my father, Masago and either one of Catalina's sons. So in actuality the only ones that may be able to stall the Heir of Doom until the heir of Althea is ready is me and Masago._

Having finished, he folded it up. He took something else from one of his pockets. It was an old book, probably a journal. He slipped in the paper between the aged leaves of the diary.

Masago looked at it curiously. "What is that?"

"This is my mother's diary. In here are secrets that can confound the whole of Reikai. Now, I'm giving it to you for safekeeping. Promise me you'll read it later after all this. "

"But…" She spared him a hesitant smile. "That's your mother's. Don't you think you should keep it? And I don't think I should read it. I mean…"

"Trust me, imouto. Please?"

Masago stared back at Koenma's serious face. "Okay," she said. "I promise."

"And I have something else to tell you." Koenma's voice softened.

"It's about my brothers, right?"

"Well, yes." Koenma turned away, slowly walking around and watching for signs of Botan. "One of them is responsible for all this."

"I see." Masago became sadder than ever. "Which one?"

"We don't know. Nobody does so-"

"So we'll have to be wary with both, then," she finished in a firm voice.

"Yeah." Koenma shook his head in admiration. "You're one strong girl. My mother would have loved you for a daughter."

At this Masago giggled. "You really are obsessed about me being your sister, aren't you? Well, I don't mind too much, _brother_."

"Shh." Koenma suddenly raised a warning hand, eyes narrowing alert. "I see her."

Masago crept to where the prince was, ducking around the thick trunks of the towering evergreens. Koenma pointed below them.

"Youkai," murmured Masago. "I hate youkai. So what are you planning to do?"

"Live bait."

"Excuse me? Are you asking me to go out there and dance the hula? I've done my part masking our presence. You're supposed to be the man. You fight them."

"Geeze, Masago. I was only kidding. We'll ambush them now. Ladies first."

Masago rolled her eyes. "This is suicide. I was taught four different martial arts for self-defense but I don't think I'm quite at par with these beings. I really should have asked somebody else to assist me in this rescue mission, like one of my brothers." She sighed. "The question is which one?"

"Relax. Trust me. I can handle them." Koenma didn't look as sure as he sounded. "Um, would you tell me something? Can you fight at all?"

"Well, yes. If the occasion calls for it."

"It does."

Masago sighed. She ritually tore two slits at both sides of her dress, to ease her movement. She noticed Koenma staring at the shapely black-tighted legs revealed. She smacked him in the noggin.

"Hey!" she said.

"I'm just wondering what you're doing!" sputtered Koenma self-consciously.

"I'm preparing for battle, obviously."

"Good , then you don't need me."

"What!"

"I can't fight them."

"Why?"

Koenma patted his back, a woeful expression on his face. "Rheumatism."

"Yeah right." Masago rolled her eyes. "You distract them and I'll get Botan." She readied herself and prepared to leap on the attackers. "I'll have to rely on two hundred years of ballet lessons and gymnastics."

With that, she somersaulted in front of the youkai, leaving behind a protesting Koenma.

"Are you crazy!" the demanded the impressed (and, yes, shocked) prince. "This _is_ suicide."

Nevertheless, he jumped after her, landing a few paces before the others.

"If it pleases you gentlemen," Masago started in her best bossy voice. "I wish to retrieve my favorite lady-in-waiting. I would appreciate it greatly if you surrender her immediately."

Nothing.

"Don't be silly Masago," chided Koenma. "You watch too much of those silly Ningen films. Do you actually expect them to hand over Botan just like that?"

Masago bit her lip as she surveyed one impassive face after another. "Must everything end in violence?" she asked pleadingly.

"Sorry, little girl," said Koenma seriously. "But that's the way of this world. Watch and learn."

He walked slowly, complete with a manly swagger, his glare never leaving the youkai leader. He edged nearer and nearer obviously intimidating at least the weakest of the enemies. One of the captors of the unconscious Botan shrank in fear. The leader, however, grinned hideously.

"Good," he said. "I thought you'd be leaving all the fighting to this little girl here. "Masago gasped indignantly. "Shall we see how strong you are, lanky?"

"Listen, you," said Masago, hands at her waist. "You're fighting me remember?" Gracefully, like a lethal predator, she reverted to a fighting stance.

For a while, the monsters just stared at her, half in disbelief. Then, one of the more insolent ones yawned.

"Listen, sweet cakes," he said. "I sure would like to feast on you-" he licked his lips and smacked them with relish. "- but we've got work to do. Go home."

The others laughed as Masago practically burned in rage and embarrassment. Koenma gripped her shoulder, as if to tell her to keep her cool. He himself stepped between her and the opponents glowering at each of them. He tore off the headband covering his forehead, thus revealing the tell-a-tale birthmark.

"Well if it isn't out friendly neighborhood princeling," said the loudmouth youkou. "Sorry your _Highness_." He punctuated the honorific with a spit. "- we're not under your sovereignty. You're beyond your borders."

"I know." Koenma's eyes glinted eerily. "But that doesn't change the fact I'm used to getting what I want. This is your last chance. Give us the girl."

There were no laughing faces anymore. They all watched him warily, each man on his guard. The leader of the band strode forward and stopped before Koenma, towering the latter by at least three feet.

"Choose your weapon," he hissed between his gritted teeth, whipping out a dagger from its sheath and starting to gather spiritual strength.

"Alright," said Koenma in his business-like tone. "How much?"

He whipped out a black satchel from his pocket. Everyone held their breath as they expected the worst. And that formidable weapon of destruction that would annihilate them all was…

His _wallet_.

Mass face faulting.

"THAT'S IT!" exploded Masago. "I'll do it myself. I'm very sorry but you all asked for it!"

After a couple of minutes of pleading and apologizing (from Masago's part), each one of those "powerful" monsters was down.

Koenma stood apart from the fighting, watching from a distance and shifting uncomfortably. "Not bad," he said to Masago. "You're pretty slow but considering these are Class A warriors and you're a spoiled brat from the high court of Reikai…Wow." He walked to where Botan was. "You took them all out. "

"I did not," protested Masago. "They're just unconscious."

Koenma nudged one of the fallen enemies with his foot. "I don't think so." He turned a wide-eyed glance at Masago. "Oh my gosh, I think you killed them."

"I'm so sorry!" said Masago tearfully. One of the youkai grabbed at her feet, sending her a few feet up in surprise. "Koenma, you little-"

Koenma ignored her. "Hey, Botan?"

THE FAMILIAR VOICE slowly filtered into her consciousness. With much effort, Botan opened her eyes and saw two faces peering at her anxiously. "Oh, wow. I must be in heaven. Look, I'm seeing the living people down there. Good for them! Miss Masago and Koenma-sama finally took my advice. They're married!"

Koenma dropped a snowball on Botan's face.

"Idiot," he said. "It really is us. You're not dead and we certainly aren't married."

"Koenma-sama and Miss Masago!"

"How are you darling?" asked Masago, hugging her.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, I guess. What are you two doing out here?"

"It's quite obvious enough."

"Yeah," said Koenma. "You're very stupid alright, Botan."

"Stupid or not, you're not supposed to be here," admonished Botan. "You're both doing Reikai wrong. Get your butts back there!"

"And you've done countless more wrong. Lying under oath. Do you know what the penalty for perjury is?"

"It's for Reikai." Botan sighed. "We all have to make sacrifices for things that matter."

"Yes. So you better not waste those I made."

Botan opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"Never mind. Just trust us."

Botan nodded. "Of course."

"People," interrupted Masago. "Do this later, please? We have to get out of here now!"

She's right. The hillside before them was black with Reikai troops led by Atsumori!

"Quick!" ordered Koenma. "We have to leave quickly!"

He carried Botan and placed her on a cloud that materialized just then. He jumped in after; pulled Masago in and away they flew.

"Koenma-sama," protested Botan. "This is wrong. You have to take me back."

"No," replied the prince. "We've been through this. You're innocent and you know it."

"But-"

"Botan, you twit, didn't you realized you've already been kidnapped a while ago?"

"But sir, isn't it better if we explain everything to them properly than have them pursue and arrest us? Even if you're the prince, you still have to follow the rules. You can't do what you did to the youkai every time the-"

"They might be the enemy, Botan," Masago replied quietly, cutting her off.

"Miss Masago!"

"We're really not sure if it's Atsumori but we can't take any chances."

"But-"

"Just be silent," ordered Koenma. "Save your strength. We're going to need it."

Comments, suggestions, violent reactions are all welcome. I review might be nice too. )


	16. The Real Enemy

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.

**Sixteenth Chapter**

The Real Enemy

"SO WHAT YOU'RE saying is, it's not really my brother who is causing all this but his alternate personality."

"Yes."

"This alter-ego of his-"

Botan listened half attentively as Koenma explained the situation. She herself knows all these already, perhaps even more than what the prince is aware of. She knows he's not telling his half-sister the whole truth: the fact that she is the daughter of Enma, too; that all these resulted from an illegitimate affair of the king of Reikai and a daughter of the clan of Grey; that this is the fulfillment of a curse.

Botan clutched at Koenma more tightly. They had landed on the valley below the mountain range and had to go on foot from then on. The two blue bloods have been supporting her all the way. Ironic isn't it? She leaned more on Koenma since he is a man and is presumably (hopefully) stronger.

It was impossible to stay aloft at the state of things what with the thick snowfall and all. The weather has really worsened after the last hour. The overcast sky is now invisible because of the heavy snowfall. Anytime soon, this may become a full-blown blizzard.

The trees are thinner down here and there is a great deal more light available. It is hard to find shelter, however. There are fewer evergreens here to shield the ground from the snow. There are mostly deciduous trees in that area. Their bare branches, of course, could offer no protection.

"So where are we heading for right now?" asked Masago presently.

"There's a Reikai outpost out here somewhere," answered Koenma. Then, under his breath he muttered. "I'm just not sure where exactly."

"But Ieyasu-"

"Ieyasu should be in the embassy. That's rather far from here. It's in the capital."

_Should be_, thought Masago. _We can never be sure_. She held her tongue, however. They would just have to take the risk.

They continued their voyage silently. Masago waited expectantly during each break of quietness. She was hoping either one of the two would break the ice and clarify their feelings for each other. But of course, with her hanging around, it's probably too much to hope for.

"Oh look," said Koenma after another fifteen minutes trek. "There it is."

So it is. A broken down log cabin loomed before them. It wasn't much but its yellow glow promised a cackling fire, hot drinks, and soft seats. In fact, there's the welcome party.

Then again, they aren't so welcoming. Soon enough, seemingly hostile soldiers of Reikai SWAT surrounded them, forming a chain of powerful warriors around them. Presently, the door of the shack swung open.

"Well, well," said a voice from within. "Welcome, o Prince to your soon to be humble abode."

"Ieyasu-niisan," gasped Masago.

"That name is nice Lady Yoshio but I prefer being addressed as Doom."

"Listen," whispered Koenma. "I'll take out these guys and then you two can make a run for it. I'll try to restrain the mastermind as long as I can. You guys try to ask help from Atsumori."

"But-" protested Botan.

"No butts. Masago, take care of Botan."

"Yes, but this is Doom a.k.a. S-class avenging demon in the body of my brother a.k.a. Reikai Elite Force Academy Valedictorian Class 200. Are you sure-" said Masago.

"Of course, trust me. I didn't expect you to even defend yourself a while ago. I believe I can manipulate my powers as well, if not better, than you."

"Suit yourself. Be careful."

"Koenma-sama, I-" Botan attempted to say but Koenma had already faced Doom once more.

"So you've finally shown yourself, Doom," he said. "You are aware that I'm here to stop you."

"You can't do that," replied Doom. "I already know of your plan. D'you actually think leaping on one of these warriors will give enough space and time for these girls to escape? You are pitiful."

"Of course, I know _that_ would be futile, which is why I prepared _this_ especially for you!"

A blinding yellow green light flashed from the prince and the accompanying energy threw everyone back. The two girls, who had protected themselves by a force field, took the initiative to run.

"After them," ordered Doom as he quickly recovered. "Remember, touch not a single hair on their heads."

The SWAT warriors, who took longer time for recovery, flew off.

"You shouldn't under estimate me," said Koenma quietly, wearing an ominous smile. "After all, the prince of Reikai can't be as weak as he appears. Besides, where else would the Fuumakan get its power?"

"You boast of that pacifier's power?" said Doom with a laugh. "Let me remind you. It did nothing against Sensui and he's human.

"And you're youkai," quipped Koenma triumphantly. "Exactly what the Fuumakan is made for."

"Am I?" Doom took out a dagger and etched a gash across his own face. "To my knowledge, the ruling class of Reikai isn't youkai."

"Don't do _that_!" snapped Koenma angrily.

"I'll do whatever I want. This body is mine."

"Not if I could help it." Spiritual energy began to gather around both of them.

"You can't"

"We'll see."

MASAGO CAREFULLY AIMED at the soldier from behind the thick trunk of the pine.

"Miss Masago?" questioned Botan.

"Shhh…" she answered. "Sniping requires concentration. Besides, I've never done this before."

"But you have no weapon. How-"

"Just you wait!" Teeth gritted, she released the energy that accumulated on her palm.

BOOM!

"AHHH!"

Masago was thrown back by the force she released. She landed a few paces from her original position face first.

"Miss Masago!" Botan rushed at her side.

Masago lifted her face from the ground, coughing.

"I swear, I would never try such a thing again," she said, panting.

"Wow," said Botan, eyes widening. "I never thought you had powers, too. I mean, I do, too, but it's not sufficient for combat."

"I had never been given formal training for its usage but having two powerful brothers does have its advantages. Ouch, ow, ow, ouch."

"What about Koenma-sama?"

"Well, just have to trust him, I guess."

"What if the SWAT finds us?"

"They won't. Atsumori did teach me how to produce force fields resistant to their powers."

"Resistant?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, only resistant. Don't worry. It'll probably take a while before those guys recover."

"I hope so.

_Be careful, Koenma-sama_, she thought.

SPIRITUAL ENERGY AGAINST spiritual energy clashed and exploded with unimaginable power. The earth reverberated with each impact and the strain of the non-stop snowstorm launched an avalanche.

The combatants faced each other panting a tad dismally. None had been too pleased to discover that their attacks merely cancelled the effects of each other and created equal damage to both parties. No surprise. Same blood courses through their veins. Same training shaped them up since childhood.

"Not bad," said Doom. "You'll have to do better."

Not bad, indeed. Considering Ieyasu is a trained warrior, and, as Masago mentioned, a topnotcher in military school with his body and reflexes sharpened by experience and vigorous training, Doom certainly has the edge. Koenma, on the otherhand, has spent all his time in the past sitting in his office, straining his eyes, stretching the gray matter of his brain and generally keeping his claws off the martial and physical rigors of his responsibility. He relied solely on the Tantei for that.

Now is different. There is no Reikai Tantei. There is no one around to help him. There's no back available behind which he can hide right now. He is on his own.

_Strange_, he contemplated as he struggled to catch his breath. _He could defeat me easily if we go _mano e mano_. He knows I won't dare fight him face to face. He knows I can't bear to hurt my brother's body directly. Besides, with these spindly arms, I can't do much with my fists. Perhaps, Ieyasu retains some control of himself._

"Ieyasu!" he yelled aloud. "I know you're in there. Break free."

"You know it's futile, Koenma," answered Doom. "You'd have to fight me seriously."

"What is it you really want?"

"Do you have to ask?"

"Obviously, yes. I don't know."

"It's quite simple. It's the fulfillment of my destiny. "

"What? Why?"

"There is no personal reason. Simply that it is my duty to punish the crimes against the natural order. Long, long ago, two families brought the worlds to its knees. When they were defeated, the cosmos decided to prevent ultimate domination from occurring again. Thus, the curse and I came to existence. You are exempted from this. After all, you are a victim yourself. But you just had to interfere."

"I don't understand."

"You have no need for understanding. A curse is a curse."

"Then why did you involve Botan here?"

"You'll find out soon enough. As for the other girl, she, too, is to be slaughtered as punishment for the royal clan's sins."

"NO!"

"Then you have to choose," boomed Doom maniacally. "Your sister or brother?"

MASAGO PEERED OUT anxiously through the force field that gave them both security by being a barrier and a mask of their presence. Thankfully, it also emits a small amount of heat, which helps a little.

The girl worriedly felt Botan's forehead. It's very hot with fever.

_This is bad_, Masago thought. _Nightfall is nearing. She won't survive the cold of the night. We have to get out of here!_

"Miss Masago," the invalid spoke with much effort. "I-"

"Shhh…" The other protested. "Save your strength." She removed her cloak and tucked Botan in the best she could. She began to rub two stones together on a pile of pine needles.

"Listen." Botan tried again.

"Talk later!" Worry made Masago ornery.

"There might be no later."

Masago gasped. "What?"

"I want you to go for help. Master Atsumori can't possibly be an enemy now. They should be able to help Koenma-sama. They may even have the Heir of Althea with them."

"But… I can't leave you! Koenma specifically told me to guard you."

"The sooner the Althea finishes the sacrifice, the sooner I'd get some help."

Masago gazed at Botan's eyes. "Just promise me you won't get out of this force field."

"I promise. Would you be able to ride my oar?"

Masago gulped. "I'll try."

"Okay, I'll summon it."

"There. I've finished your fire."

"Take your cloak."

"No." Masago was adamant. "I'll manage. Be careful."

"Be careful, too."

Masago hugged Botan tightly. Then she went her way.

"Goodbye," murmured Botan. "And I'm sorry……."

Comments, suggestions, violent reactions are all welcome. I review might be nice too. )


	17. All For Nothing

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.

**Seventeenth Chapter**

All For Nothing

"GENERAL YOSHIO," SALUTED a soldier. "Sir, we've pinpointed the location of the avalanche."

"Good," replied Atsumori. "Send some troops to check the whereabouts of the prince."

"Yes, sir."

Atsumori watched as the soldier rushed away to carry out the order. He had set off as soon as he heard the news that Koenma and his sister has gone off to rescue the ferry girl. They probably thought he was Ieyasu when they ran away from him. Now, his job has become even more complicated.

He still couldn't believe it. His own brother was the mastermind of all this. Now he knows that he, too, has been suspected of the crime. Perhaps they still suspect him for he is very sure some amount of information is being withheld from him.

Presently, another soldier approached him, trailed by four other people. One is a youkai, all black in apparel. Even his hair is black, streaked in front with a white star. The longhaired redhead was probably one, too, though his body is human. The dark haired one is probably half-half. The tall carrot-head is a pure Ningen, however.

Kuwabara squirmed uncomfortably as he scanned the Reikai army on one side and the Makai army on the other. One false move and they certainly would be pulverized. He looked at the three other men with him and was pacified. He was with S-class warriors after all. He should not be worried. Then again, having the unpredictable Hiei around isn't that safe, especially for him.

Yusuke was different. He seemed excited, eager for adventure and some rare happening. It sure felt good coming back to his natural habitat. He sensed his best friends agitation and so nudged him.

"What did I tell you?" he said. "I told you this is no place for a Ningen like you. You should have stayed home."

"What!" yelled Kuwabara, his natural bravado surfacing. "And get left out of the action? No way! Kazuma Kuwabara is here to save the day."

"Hn." Obviously Hiei. "Somebody shut him up. He's embarrassing us all."

"Sir," said the soldier presently to Atsumori. "Former Reikai Tantei Kurama, Urameshi Yusuke, and Hiei, also the commanding officer of the Makai troops."

Atsumori nodded and bowed in greeting. "Who's the other gentleman?" he queried.

"Doesn't matter," said Hiei. "We want to know the whereabouts of the suspect."

"As of now, we're unsure of their location."

"Their?" repeated Kurama.

"Koenma-sama and my sister attempted to rescue the spirit guide. She had been kidnapped by Ieyasu or whoever took over him for reasons unrevealed. Their specific location cannot be pinpointed as of yet."

"Hiei," said Yusuke. "Would you do the honors?"

The fire youkai's forehead glowed and pulsated as his Jagan searched for the missing people. The others waited hopefully in silence.

"Hn," he grunted in annoyance soon after.

"It appears his powers are incapable of executing this certain job," translated Kurama. "He's being blocked apparently."

"This is bad," said Yusuke grimly. "Koenma wouldn't survive against that powerful enemy. And with two girls, too. We have to find him at once."

"Hey!" exclaimed Kuwabara suddenly, pointing on the horizon. "What's that?"

"Botan?"

"Can't be. It's a brunette."

"Masago?" said Atsumori in disbelief.

"Who's Masago?"

"My sister."

"Is she a deity of death?"

"Certainly not."

"What's she doing in an oar?"

"I don't know. It's probably her who's jamming the tracking devices."

By then, Masago has reached the party.

"Oniisan!" she said, stumbling off the paddle. "Come quick! Koenma-sama is fighting off Ieyasu on his own and Botan is very sick. We have to help them. Ieyasu is possessed by this Doom person and everything is plain awful!"

"Calm down, sister," said Atsumori. "We'll go immediately just stop jamming the signals."

"That is not I. You did not finish teaching me properly. It must be the effect of their spiritual powers. We have to haste! I do hope none of them is hurt."

The other four, however, just stared at her as if she had just dropped out of the sky. (she did, didn't she,; )

"Wait," said Yusuke slowly. "Did I hear you clearly?"

"I said, Koenma is trying to fight my brother who is possessed by some evil spirit."

"Koenma as in the toddler with a big hat on a flat head, a foul temper and a pacifier stuck on his mouth?"

"No!" Masago stamped her foot impatiently. "Koenma Daiou, son of Enma Daiou, ruler of all Reikai."

"Oh, that Koenma!"

"Yes, so will you-"

"WAIT!"

"WHAT!" Masago screeched back.

"Koenma is _fighting_?" Yusuke asked, punctuating each word with a slight widening of his eyes until they were as huge as saucers.

"Yes!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. " Are you deaf? We have to-"

BLAG.

Mass fainting.

KOENMA LANDED ON the snow-covered earth for the umpteenth time. The execution of each of his moves was flawless. But it was not enough, as proven by ground on his face. His mind reeled in confusion, dizzy from the numerous knocks and blows he had received. He stood up groggily, preparing to use the last of his strength for what he knows to be a futile blow.

"Urghhh," he groaned. "I'm really not cut out for this."

"That's for sure," said Doom, laughing hideously. "You belong in your office, stamping away like the lily-livered infant that you are." He knelt before the prostrated prince. He pulled the latter's head up by a sharp jerk of his hand, which held a handful of hair. "But I wouldn't leave you the chance of ever going back to that old wasted life of yours. I'll give you eternal rest!"

_Perfect_, thought Koenma.

Pure energy exploded from the brunette, incinerating everything on its path.

Doom howled in pain. "Damn you!" he screamed in rage. "You'll pay for this!"

"You should be flattened, I mean, flattered," choked out Koenma. "You're the first being who has ever really fought the great Prince of Reikai."

"Forgive this ungrateful wretch," snarled the other, wiping the trickle of blood marring his view. "I should return the favor."

And he did. He battered the poor Koenma's body, so unaccustomed to this kind of abuse, to pulp mercilessly. When Doom was finally satisfied, he approached the half-dead prince and stopped a few feet away.

"You are foolish," he said. "You know you are powerless against me but you still resist. I would have given you a peaceful end but you just had to play hero. Because of this, you shall suffer."

"Go to hell," Koenma managed to blurt out.

"Hah!" gibed Doom. "I believe _you_ are the one soon to go there."

"I'm not listening to your scoffing, damn you!"

"You really are pathetic," Doom sneered. "You abdicated for that woman and for your half-brother Atsumori. Now you are fighting to protect your sister and the ferry girl. You try to go easy on me, too, because you're afraid of hurting Ieyasu's body here." He shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. All those sacrifice for nothing."

"It's not for nothing. I'm not the only person on this planet. Others will come and stop you."

"Even so I would have finished my mission before then. I would kill your sister, the new heir to the throne, and the king. I will take over Reikai and lay waste of it. By then, this body would have been destroyed by my overwhelming powers."

"It won't go that far. I'm sure the Heir of Althea is willing to make a sacrifice for the sake of the three worlds."

"The question is, would you be willing?"

"What?"

"You see, you yourself prevented the Heir of Althea from making the ultimate sacrifice."

Koenma thought hard about this. Whom was he talking about? Suddenly, a realization hit him like a lightning bolt.

"Botan…" he muttered. "She's the Heir." His voice escalated to a shout. "Don't you dare touch her!"

"She's my passport after all. " Doom grinned. "And I will have her."

"Damn you! I'll kill you myself!" Koenma struggled to rise to his feet.

"Sorry but killing is my job. Goodbye."

Koenma shut his eyes as Doom did his finishing move, the grand finale to this demented game of fate. And soon enough, he felt the warm blood splash all over his body. He sensed the fluid of life staining his clothing, soaking through the fabric and into his skin.

_Darn_, he thought. _I fail and then I am killed. Pathetic. Immortality after all means being unsusceptible to disease and natural death. Murder is a different case. I am really dying. I can't even feel…._" He suddenly froze when the realization hit him. "_Wait a minute, why is there no pain?_

"Aurghhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Koenma opened his eyes at the sound of his enemy's scream of agony. He watched in surprise and horror as Doom writhed in pain, clawing the ground like a madman.

Doom's entreaties were soon dwarfed by a scream coming from Koenma himself.

"BOTAN!"

Forgetting about everything else, ignoring the innumerable afflictions he has, Koenma limped to Botan's side as fast as he could manage.

"Damn you, Botan!" he cried. "How stupid can you get!"

Botan smiled at him faintly. "I forgot to tell you," she said weakly. "I am the Heir of Althea."

"I just hate it when you insist on stating the obvious!" Koenma exploded, panic rising inside him beyond emergency level as he saw the snow around them turn red. "Shut up and I might be able to stop the bleeding." He began fumbling around. "Where is that Fuumakan when I need it?"

Botan took his hands on hers and clasped them tightly. "Listen, Koenma."

Koenma stopped fidgeting for a moment.

"This is my destiny."

"Idiot! You're suppose to administer the sacrifice not kill yourself!" Koenma forced his body to relinquish the last of its strength, just managing to give it to her.

"Koenma-sama. This is the ultimate sacrifice."

"What?" He leaned on his arm, utterly drained but still undefeated.

"Koenma-sama. Calm down, please. Remember, I told you to take things a little lightly so that you won't get to stressed?"

"That's a stupid request, Botan! Do you actually expect me to be happy about losing you? No, no, no, no! Not you…" Tears flowed liberally from his eyes as he finally gave up from stopping them. "You are my world."

"We must let it be, Koenma-sama. I mean, this was what I was born for."

"Let it be? My father let it be. My mother let it be. Catalina and Kumagai let it be. Did anything happen? No! Nothing good came of it. I shall not make the same mistake they did. To hell with fate!"

"Koenma-sama…"

"Stop calling me that! What did I tell you about the sama? My name is Bran."

"Bran. I have something to tell you."

"Shut up and recover!" His eyes widened as he saw her color deteriorate at an alarming rate.

"No good." She shook her head. "No good…"

He braced himself forcing more of his power out of him. Nothing. "Dammit!"

Then suddenly, Koenma remembered what Kuwabara did to Yusuke when they fought Suzaku of the Shiseijuu. Insect-like creatures controlled by a whistle or a flute possessed a huge portion of the populace. Yusuke drained his spiritual energy for a final attack to stop the warrior, who controlled lightning, from killing off Keiko and Botan. However, Kuwabara gave his dying rival strength, risking his own life. If a human can do it, he, Koenma, should be able to as well. _Yes_, he thought. _I might manage to pull it off. I don't care even if I_-"

Apparently, Botan thought of that as well. "Useless. I've been marked for the dead. I should know. Stop it."

"I said to hell with fate!"

"The destruction of Doom is brought about by my death. It's impossible that I survive now that he is annihilated."

"Stop saying that!" He collapsed at her side, no longer able to sit straight.

"I'm sorry," she whispered on his ear. "But will you promise me you'll always be brave and strong like today?"

"Are you kidding?" Koenma's voice cracked. "I was pathetic. _A liar is always prodigal with oaths_, Pierre Cornielle."

"And another thing." Botan gazed at him, as if wishing to preserve the memory of his face on her mind, heart and soul forever, her hand touching his face tenderly. "Ai-"

"Don't say it!" protested Koenma hoarsely. "Masago said it's improper for a woman to say it."

Botan was already gasping for air like a fish out of the water. "There's no more time. Ai-"

The rest was muffled by Koenma's mouth now pressed against hers. Slowly he pulled away a million micro seconds later.

"Ai shiteru, Botan."

"Ai shiteru," she mouthed, her voice once the merry twinkling of crystal bells now a ghost of a whisper.

"Please don't go." He pleaded for the last time, the animal like sound his suppressed sobbing created swallowed by the howling of the wind.

"Sayonara…"

"No," he protested weakly. "Ja… just ja."

"Ja…ne…"

MASAGO WAS FURIOUS when she found the bivouac she made for Botan deserted. Blood pounding on her ears unbearably audible, she ran to where the others have gone. She was sure the ferry girl went to her master.

"Botan-no-baka!" she muttered worriedly. "I knew, I shouldn't have trusted you. If anything happens to you, I'd never forgive myself."

When Masago finally reached the scene, the paramedics had already taken Ieyasu away. She searched for Koenma and Botan, her heart galloping rather erratically, as if something was amiss. She almost burst with relief when she finally found them.

"Koenma-" she started breathlessly.

Masago stopped when she saw him doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her friend. She counted the seconds, waiting for him to pull away. One…two…three…four…

_You're doing it wrong, Koenma_, she thought crossly. _Only two breaths and five_- She gasped. _Oh, no…_

And that was when she knew.

Comments, suggestions, violent reactions are all welcome. I review might be nice too. )


	18. Christmas Eve

( May 3, 2005 - In compliance to FFnet's warnings, I removed some lyrics here. Darn.)

Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot.

**Eighteenth Chapter**

Christmas Eve

SO THIS IS Christmas Eve. There was a good few inches of fresh snow on the ground. The music of carols lingered in the air. Delicious food, still untouched, was piled on the table, its smells wafting throughout the house temptingly. Everything about the place spoke volumes of the good old Yuletide cheer and the spirit of giving. Still, the long doleful faces and red teary eyes of the inhabitants and the guests, suggested otherwise.

Nobody was crying anymore, though. Their tear glands have been exhausted of its salty secretion. All of them had their time to recover from grief; throw furniture around, punch walls, produce enough tear gems to buy the whole of Japan, scream oneself to death. Now, only that lonely feeling of emptiness remained.

"Ano…" began Keiko haltingly. "I know I shouldn't be raising this subject…" She choked. "I mean, it's Christmas Eve and all…"

Yusuke reached out to pull his wife to him. "We understand," he said quietly.

"You want to know what happened in Reikai," said Kurama.

"Yeah," answered Shizuru. "We all do."

Kurama smiled slightly. "Are you up to genetics, Keiko?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Do you know why marriage with a relative is unadvisable?"

"Yes," Keiko said. "The recessive allelle of the family might be expressed as a phenotype of any of their offspring since they may both have it."

"Hai. That is the case with royal family and the Grey family. They both carry the recessive gene that is decisive of Doom's conception."

"In layman's term," requested Kuwabara. "Please."

"It means they can produce children that has the right genetic pattern for the spirit of Doom to squat in."

"Why them?" asked Shizuru. "I mean, why those two families."

"According to legends, the clan of Grey was once the ruling clan of Makai. They merged with the ruling class of Reikai by intermarriage. They grew very powerful and were able to conquer and rule over everything.

"Of course such a vast kingdom, stretching to include three worlds cannot be controlled by a single central power. Numerous coup de tats ensued and wars lasted for long years. The cosmos, fate, intervened and when the turmoil died down, cursed the two families to prevent such a thing from happening again."

"Botan?"

"She's part of the curse, I guess. She was born to destroy the Heir of Doom and for only that reason. When her mission is complete, she shall cease to exist. Actually, to destroy Doom she must be killed."

"But why?" asked Yukina.

Kurama scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Probably to see if there was anybody who's willing to sacrifice his/her life for the sake of the universe."

"Then why does it have to be the Heir of Althea?" asked Yusuke. "Any of us could have done it."

"Maybe it's also part of heaven's plan. I mean, we can't expect everyone to be able to perform that ultimate sacrifice she did. You know how our personalities are shaped by elements we interact with. I guess, Botan was developed by the right kind so she's how she is. So maybe, the Higher Being is also testing the society itself, to see how cruel or kind it is. To see if it can actually produce people like Botan, who gives freely, whose heart is so magnanimous."

"And since we all touched her life, one way or another we have influenced her," said Keiko thoughtfully.

"Funny," said Yusuke. "That someone as crazy as her is given the key to stop a disaster like this. I mean, she tends to be rather flighty and all. I guess that counts, too, in that test you're talking about, Kurama."

"Look who's talking," muttered Hiei out of earshot.

"By the way, the flower she found was her undoing. It enabled Doom to know that she's actually the Heir of Althea."

Keiko sighed. "So they really are victims of circumstance," she said. "Koenma, his parents, Masago, her parents, Botan…"

"How did they take it?" asked Shizuru. "The people of Reikai. How did they react?"

"They don't know of course," said Yusuke rather angrily. "Of course, they don't."

"Where is Koenma?" asked Yukina.

"I expected him to announce it," added Keiko.

Kurama frowned. "Koenma has disappeared from Reikai. Atsumori is the new heir to the throne."

"What of Masago, then?" said Shizuru.

"She fainted when she saw Botan dead. Until now, she's still sick in bed. Apparently, she blames herself. Guilt can create much havoc in a person's soul."

"Overacting," muttered Hiei.

Yusuke glared at him. "She also found out that Kumagai isn't her real father and that she almost married her own brother and that she's an illegitimate child and that she's actually Enma's daughter. What would you do if you're in her shoes?" he demanded.

"Hn."

"You wouldn't give a damn, I'm sure," snapped Kuwabara.

Yukina placed an arm on his shoulder. "Anata…"

Kuwabara turned away from his brother-in-law. "You don't understand…"

"'Course I do," grunted Hiei. "Look at the trouble it caused." He snorted. "Love. Who needs it?"

Silence.

"I'm really sorry about Koenma," said Yukina sadly.

"Yeah," said Keiko. "You know what they say, people usually say 'I love you' only when it's already too late."

"I really miss her. " Click! A tear gem dropped on the floor. "I can almost imagine Koenma's pain, his regrets…"

"Listen, Yukina," said Kuwabara. "We shouldn't dwell on bad feelings. I'm sure we all hurt but I'm also sure Botan would be awfully mad if she finds out we're mourning on Christmas day instead of being happy."

Keiko wiped a stray tear away, as Yusuke squeezed her hand in comfort. "She always has been a cheerful person," she said. "And she likes to share her good spirits."

"Yes," said Yukina. "She once told me she takes spirits for a ride to watch the stars when they need cheering up, especially the children."

She rose and walked towards the window. Drawing the thick curtain aside, she deftly drew a caricature of a girl holding up a peace sign, using her finger, on the fogged up glass. Looking through the childish artwork, she gazed up at the numerous dots of light scattered through out the eternity of the dark sky.

"Merry Christmas, Botan-chan."

1:09:57

121800

The End

Well? To Seiyo: I told you not to expect much. sigh Anyway, thanks for prodding me often enough. You're the only reason I finished this. Thanks again.

Am I corny or what? Like I said, I don't have much background on romance. And don't hate me for killing off Botan. I just thought it was time for me to live up to my pen name. Good night.

Disclaimer: Yu Yu Hakusho belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump and Studio Pierrot. And no, I do not want to be locked up for any reason, may it be legal matters or mental instability.

_Immortality_ is written by Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb/Maurice Gibb (I think). It was sung by Celine Dion from the album _Let's Talk About Love_. (if I'm wrong about that please inform me ;-)

INSERT LYRICS HERE. : (

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**Somewhere else, the winter constellations above him, and white snow under him, a young man spent his Christmas Eve alone.**

**"I will wait. Even if thousands of years come to pass, I will wait. Time shall be the test of my patience and strength. I will wait. Forever."**

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Editing 1: 

21:31:26

062301

Thank you very much to all who had the patience to read this thing. Thanks for the support and the reviews, too!

Question: Is Koenma immortal? Does he live forever? Is he like invincible? Or does he simply have a very long life span?


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